Ruta 13 to Uspallata

Ruta 13 is one of the old routes to Uspallata, it's a national highway.  I navigated out through the rougher end of the northwest of Mendoza, at which point the road was the route to the town dump and I couldn't ask the local pack dogs for directions.  The GPS on my phone said I was smack dab on Ruta 13 so I trundled onward.

It's a stark reminder of how tough getting around the Andes was before the long way was feasible with cars with longer ranges.  This is (was is probably more accurate) a national highway.  Traffic consisted of 2 quads, probably a dozen dirt bikes, two trucks, and later in the day when we felt like joyriding, one Peugeot Partner.  This would be entirely awesome to tear around on my Honda XR650L, although it seems pretty easy to drive around this country without signals, so I suppose most people would go right to a more purebred dirtbike.

Oh yeah, but there was also one mountain biker going up in the heat of mid day.  And about 8 coming down, who likely started way earlier in the morning.  This was smart to do solo, as it was more of a deadgoat level of exertion.  

Clearly a national highway.  I'm not banking on much for gas stations to refill water.  I brought three bottles.

Maybe three bottles wasn't enough.

In all seriousness, it was steep climbing for several hours.  I knew the trip back into town would be 20 minutes coast downhill (in the absence of mechanical issues), so I played roulette a bit and kept plodding onward.  I wanted to make this oasis I saw way up on the hill.  It's a hacienda that is privately owned, not currently occupied, but quite nice.  I drank my last drips to make it here then coasted back down.

The view down the valley to give a hint of elevation gain.

The view up the valley which I'm curious to see - but will need more water, a motorbike, or perhaps the Peugeot later in the day to see.

After coasting down a bit, here's a photo showing the valley.  The mountain "center right" towers above the northwest corner of Mendoza.

Brought the Peugeot back in the evening for some joyriding.  It got to be fairly slow going, on my motorbike it'd be a breeze.  Went probably 5km past the oasis.

Rattling along in the car for a while was fun, but it was clear it'd be many hours more, and I thought we could see the switchback waaaay up above where we were... not where this little car wanted to go.

Doubling back toward the oasis from earlier in the day.  Always climbing when heading west, descending to the east.