Qualla: Sierra de las Quijadas National Park

Sierra de las Quijadas National Park: Introduction

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kai Egger, Public domain. Late in the afternoon, the rock begins to burn. The cliffs of Sierra de las Quijadas turn the deep umber red of old brick, and the shadows pooling in the ravines go violet. This is high desert in the province of San Luis, a place of wide silence where the only sounds are wind and the occasional clatter of a guanaco picking its way along a ledge. The name means "jaws" - a fitting word for a landscape of jagged ridges and dark cave mouths bitten out of the cliffs.

Image: Kai Egger | Public domain

Sierra de las Quijadas National Park: The Great Amphitheatre

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Viajando por la mía, CC BY-SA 4.0. At the heart of the park lies the Potrero de la Aguada, a vast natural amphitheatre that water and wind have carved over millions of years. Stand at its rim and the scale is hard to absorb: tiered terraces of red and ochre rock fall away in every direction, sculpted into towers, ...

Image: Viajando por la mía | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sierra de las Quijadas National Park: A Sky Full of Teeth

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gadfium, CC0. Long before the canyons formed, this was the floor of an ancient lake, and it preserved one of paleontology's strangest creatures. Pterodaustro guinazui was a flying reptile of the Early Cretaceous, roughly 105 million years ago, with a long upturned beak packed with more than a ...

Image: Gadfium | CC0

Sierra de las Quijadas National Park: Life in the Dry Country

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Valentin Bruno, CC BY-SA 4.0. Survival here is an art of restraint. The algarrobo tree endures long droughts on roots that reach deep for buried moisture, and the chica bush dispenses with leaves entirely, photosynthesizing through thorny green branches and flowering only once every few years. Guanacos browse...

Image: Valentin Bruno | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sierra de las Quijadas National Park: Walking the Jaws

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Laputaquetepario, CC BY-SA 3.0. The park rewards those who arrive on foot. A short floral trail introduces the plants and their water-saving tricks; the three-hour Guanacos trail leads into the country where the herds graze; and the longer Farrallones route traces the cliff edges with guides who read the rock l...

Image: Laputaquetepario | CC BY-SA 3.0