The Atuel Canyon (in Spanish ''Cañón del Atuel'') is a narrow

canyon A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency t ...

and popular tourist attraction within Valle Grande,

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. The canyon is popular location for adventure sports, including river rafting, hiking, climbing, horse riding and mountain biking. The

Atuel River The Atuel River is a river located mainly in the south of the Argentine province of Mendoza, with its last part in La Pampa. It is a tributary of the Desaguadero River. The Atuel is the longest river in Mendoza. It is born in the Andes range, ...

flows through the base of the canyon and contains several rapids, which are used for

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

and

canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. In some parts of Europe, canoeing refers to both canoeing and kayaking, with a canoe being called an 'open canoe' or Canadian. A few of the recreational ...

. Those rapids are classified between class II (novice) and IV (advanced) in the International Scale of River Difficulty. The surrounding area includes many hotels, camping sites, country clubs and other lodging facilities.

Geography

The canyon is from the city of San Rafael, where it starts at Embalse El Nihuil and ends in Embalse Valle Grande. The canyon was formed by river and wind erosion.

External links

References

Geography of Argentina Tourist attractions in Argentina {{MendozaAR-geo-stub