Cerro Castillejos
  • Cerro Castillejos
  • 2490 m.
  • Prominence: 15xx m
  • Argentina
  • Location: South 26.06468, West 064.89291 (GPS)
  • Difficulty: (YDS) class 1
  • Climbed January 5, 2023.

Information:

How to get there:

Drive north from Tucuman on Hwy. xx.
Route description:
From the ranch, cross the gate and continue on a rough farmers road that runs gently uphill, soon another fence crossing (open and close gate) is needed. Continue to follow the main track until you pass through a gate (likely open) on a small local hilltop. Continue straight and you will soon hit the (dry) river bed. Follow the trail as it goes upstream in the river bed. Soon, a better trail can be found that runs parallel to the dry river, with a few crossings. This trail is quite big and should be easy to follow.
Continue the gentle ascent while following the trail in this valley. You cross the small river (now with some water) multiple times. At the end, the valley becomes much more narrow, before ending. The trail continues uphill with several switch-backs. Next, traversing a hillside (uphill on your left), before emerging into more open terrain with grass and cattle.
Follow the trail as it climbs a local col, then descends a bit before traversing the slope while keeping elevation. Finally, pretty close to the summit, the trail may be less obvious, however you are now on the final ridge with a few local bumps before ascending the highest point located at the last hill before the terrain clearly starts getting lower.
Comments / Trip report:
Adam arrived in Buenos Aires from Quito in Ecuador very early morning on January 4th. I arrived on time arround 1150 (from Norway). We independenly transferred to the domestic airport, airport code AEP, located about 45 minutes by bus or taxi from the international airport (EZE).
Checking in for Tucuman with Jetsmart Airline, 2 checked bags had an extra charge of 4000 pesos, quite acceptable. We arrived on time in Tucuman. Franco was there to meet us. We immediately started driving towards the ranch at the trailhead.
The final access road is pretty narrow and quite long with several gates that need to be opened and closed. We arrived after dark, but Franco having been here twice before had no problems with finding the appropriate campground next to a small pond.
We wanted an early start to beat the summer heat. Start at 0550 shortly before dawn. The trail was easy to follow and we soon walked a short stretch upstream in the dry creek before joining the proper trail that runs up the valley. (We discovered the bypass trail at this lower section on our return in proper daylight.) The hike was nice and the rest of the ascent went smoothly, arriving at the summit after 3.5 hours. Nice views all around. We observed cattle in several locations along this hills, obviously good grass. Leaving after about 30 minutes, we walked back to the ranch in 3 hours.

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