There are days on a road trip that function as crossings, and days that function as pauses. The Circuito Chico is emphatically the latter: a 60-kilometre loop west from San Carlos de Bariloche that traces the shorelines of lakes Nahuel Huapi and Moreno, passes through forest so dense it dims the morning light, and deposits you back in the same city by late afternoon — rested rather than spent, and with a better understanding of the landscape you've been driving through.
The day begins at 8:00 am, heading west out of Bariloche along Avenida Exequiel Bustillo, which follows the southern edge of Lago Nahuel Huapi. At kilometre 17.5, the road arrives at the base of Cerro Campanario, where a short chairlift — the aerosilla — climbs to the summit in about seven minutes through a canopy of coihue and cypress. The alternative is a steep but brief hiking trail that gains the same summit in under thirty minutes.
At the top, a cluster of viewpoints opens in every direction: Lago Nahuel Huapi to the north and east, the smaller Lago Moreno and the inlet of Laguna El Trébol below, Isla Victoria floating in the distance, and to the west the massed peaks of Cerro López, Cerro Capilla, and the white cone of Cerro Tronador on the Chilean border. The Llao Llao hotel and peninsula are clearly visible to the southwest. The mountain received its name after Monsignor Miguel de Andrea held a camp mass here in February 1930; a small iron cross still marks the site. A café at the summit serves pastries and hot chocolate.
Deleting this waypoint is permanent and cannot be undone.