Nahuel Huapi National Park

Nahuel Huapi is Argentina's oldest national park, first protected in 1922 as Parque Nacional del Sur and reconstituted under its current name in 1934, covering about 7,050 square kilometers of the Patagonian Andes around Nahuel Huapi Lake, whose Mapuche name combines the words for jaguar and island. The park spans three distinct zones, from permanently snow covered high Andean terrain above 1,600 meters, through Andean Patagonian foothills, to Patagonian desert and pockets of Valdivian rainforest, with elevations ranging from 720 to 3,574 meters, and it borders Chile along its western edge. San Carlos de Bariloche, on the park's edge, serves as the main gateway for visitors drawn to its lakes, glaciers, waterfalls and mountain scenery for trekking, skiing and climbing.