Reached 10K SP 🐬🐬 My Weekly Powerup | #club100 | A natural bridge - Punta del Inca in the Argentine Andes Mountains | #steemexclusive / 10 photos

High up in the Andes mountains in Argentina you will find this natural bridge, formed by nature. This bridge is called Puente del Inca or “Bridge of the Inca”. When I was staying in Mendoza for a few days with family, we did a day trip to the Aconcaqua Parque Provincial. This park is located close to the Chilean border. Aconcaqua is the highest mountain on the South American continent (6.961 m.). Our plan was to visit the park and hike in the area of the moutain. Shortly before arriving we had a short break in the small village called Puente del Inca. It's just a small place, but one of the places where climbers planning for the top of Aconcaqua can stay a couple of days to acclimatize. One of the trails to the top of the mountain starts from here. The village is located at an altitude of 2700 m. Even it seems as a small settlement, it has shops, a cafe, museum and anything a climber might need.

We did have a look in the souvenir shops, but our main reason to stop, was to see the natural bridge. To get to this natural phenomenon, we had to walk through the village, pass the railway track and there is was. It was only possible to view from a distance. This colorful formation was created from sulphurus hot springs. The railway station is not in use any more. Today the station functions as a museum of mountaineering - “Museo del Andinista”.

The bridge / arch was formed by both glaciers and hot springs. This happened sometime during the ice age, when glaciers filled the valley. When the earth warmed up at the end of the ice age, the ice retreated. By doing so, it left huge amounts of eroded debris. As time passed the eroded debris encrusted into a solid mass. Then there was a period that was extremely wet, that resulted in the creation of a powerful river, that flowed down through the valley. The water cut a channel through the layers of debril. Little by little erotion formed the arch.

During the beginning of the 20th century there was a thermal resort located here. They used the hot springs to treat illnesses. The railway was used to bring tourists and visitors to the resort. The railway station might have been the last stop before reaching the Chilean border.

CC @patjewell

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U.J

Kristiansand, Norway

All the photoes are mine, Ulla Jensen (flickr, Instagram and facebook)

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