Time Travel at Jurassic Lake
The Elemental Earth
When a massive storm rearranged the lower reaches of the Rio Barrancoso where it flows into Argentina’s Lago Strobel (aka Jurassic Lake) in January 2025, the guides, owners and guests of Jurassic Lake Lodge could only stand by, awestruck. A year’s worth of rain fell in hours. Prior to the storm, the lower river was a meandering series of S-curves and named pools (one called the Aquarium) that gave way to the turquoise waters of Strobel, a desert “sink” lake with no outlet. The storm left a scoured alluvial fan; the river channel, straightened and shallow, shifted tight to a high bank that gave up a significant portion of its heft in the flood. The debris field fanned out below the lodge’s high ground, new banks cut, the river and lake’s beats a sudden new frontier to be learned afresh.
Still, when I visited the lodge a few weeks after the storm, the mood was upbeat. Everyone had concerns about what might happen to the fishing, but everyone also knew that trout are resilient. Despite the harsh landscape, the trout here have flourished in Strobel’s nutrient-rich waters.
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