A cold night and early start got us underway before 9:00. Not far north we rejoined the famous Ruta 40 and for many miles traveled on nice wide paved road. However this eventually ceased and we found ourselves on a narrow gravel road winding through a small but spectacular mountain range of red sandstone and red granite. Unfortunately the photos don't do the scenery justice but I have included them anyway.

Dropping down out of the mountains we entered the town of Chilicito. We spent some time with business, faxes for insurance renewals, groceries and fuel before paying a short visit to a most amazing engineering feat. Back in the early 20th century a joint English/German venture built a cableway from the town into the nearby mountains to facilitate gold and silver mining. It is no longer operational but in its heyday it carried men and ore a total distance of 35 km with an altitude gain of 3500 m (11,500').

Back on the road we continued north on Ruta 40 passing the 4000 km mark - measured from the southern end at Rio Gallegos. We noted in the guide book that by the time we get to the Bolvian border we will be well over 5000km by road from Ushuaia, and past the 5000 km mark on Ruta 40.