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| November 12th - November 21st Time for our Huayhuash Circuit trek. Deep breath, it´s nine days until you see civilization!! |
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| WHO- Keeli, Celene, Pat, Justin, Patrice, Jonny COUNTRIES REPRESENTED- USA, Canada and France COST- 130$ per person, tipping the arrieros an extra s./30per day, food was included as well as mules and tents, sleeping bags, kitchen tent, propane WHAT- A nine day trek through the Peruvian Andes, known as the Huayhuash Circuit, it is one of the more difficult hikes as well as the most beautiful. On average of 4400meters, we hiked up and over passes almost every day. The following is a brief recap and some of the better photos. |
| DAY ONE Start- Pocpa 3,475m Finish- Matacaucha 4,000m Ascent- 635m Outlook- Rough start, we arrived at Andean Kingdom at 5am; caught a bus to a small town; missd the bus to Pocpa by 15minutes because the driver was stopping every five seconds to pick up more passengers to make some extra $; had to hire a private mini bus s./130 to Pocpa. Got to camp (or near where it was supposed to be) and it was dark and freezing ass cold. Sooooo glad for gloves. Even if they are the itchy Alpaca kind. |
| DAY TWO (alternate route) Start- Matacaucha 4,000m Finish- near L. Mitococha 4,230m Ascent- 685m high pass (snowflakes!!) right away at 4,685m. Outlook- A hard push right away but then a long gradual decline thereafter. Camp was situated along a beautiful river where we washed along the edge. Did I mention that all the water is glacial cold? Literally, glacial. Optional 30 minute hike to a lake (?) was so-so but the views of the mountains are simply ridiculous. |
| DAY THREE Start- near Lake Mitococha 4,230m Finish- L. Carhuacocha 4,138m. Ascent- +/- 400m. ´easy´ day! Outlook- Trek along high altitudes but on a relatively easy incline until you get to the lake. Able to buy cervesa if wanted, the guys definitely did. Celene and I are not interested at the moment in drinking anything but refreshing water! BEAUTIFUL view of Siula Grande and Yerpaja, the second largest mountain in Peru. There were these amazing Sampas plants that you hop from to get across the marshy bits of the trek and it turns out they only grow a millimeter a year....and I was hopping from one giant circle to another. It was like a plant out of a Dr. Seuss book. |
| DAY FOUR (alternate route to three lakes view) Start- L. Carhuacocha 4,138m. Finish- Huayhuash 4,330m. Ascent- 700m. high, high pass Outlook- Started off going up immediately; longish day of hiking with a steep pass but damned great views of the lakes. All three were different color blues-turquoise. Justin tells me that the color is affected by the glacier ´powder´ that sifts down on the bottom of the lakes. There are avalanches happening quite regularly and it makes your heart skip a beat to be able to watch the powder pour like water (or ball-bearings as Pat said) off the side of the mountains. The small town of Huayhuash is quaint and I was able to take a quick bath-swim in the river. Again with the glacial temperature. It´s great to be able to see the glacier where the water is coming from! |
| DAY FIVE (Hot Springs) Start- Huayhuash 4,330m. Finish- L. Viconga 4,407m. Ascent- 420m. steep pass at 4,750m. Outlook- Again started off with a slight incline then it´s all upwards...later it gest marshy with the strange sampas grass islands everywhere. The lake we pass looks like an old mine because it´s super steep and a deep cobalt blue. The Shining Path´s (a terrorist group) old headquarters are directly on the hill above camp. The hot springs or one cement pool with scalding hot waterfalls next to it, was a little dirty for my preference. As in, everyone bathes in it once a year it seemed. I jumped in then on my way back I took another quick bath-swim in the river. Super clear and gorgeous. I love taking freezing baths. |
| DAY SIX (El Mirador Day) Start- L. Viconga 4,400m. Finish- n. Rio Calinga & Rio Q. Huanacpatay Ascent- high pass at 5,245m. start at 4,400m, then hiked down to 3,800m then back up to 5,245m. The hardest thing I have done EVER. Outlook- Climb hard and fast then begin a rapid descent ot 3,800m. But not before we took our awesome photo of booty shorts and legwarmers. It was necessary yes, at least we didn´t do the naked in front of a glacier photo that everyone else seems to have done! haha. You can choose to do the optional El Mirador or continue along for 3 more hours to camp. I chose to do the view and it was a goddamned killer. My ipod really pushed me through and I found a fossil at the summit. The views were spectacular and I felt a bit like a superstar for making it up. Little did I know that we got to do really fun ´dirt skiing´ down the side of the mountain. It is one of my newest favorite activies. I recommend it highly. Too bad there was three more hours of hiking to get to camp. Damn long day. It would be an understatement to say I was SPENT. |
| DAY SEVEN Start- Rio Calinga Finish- past Punta Tapish Ascent- 1,100 m. no joke. Outlook- I had a bad day. I was so wrecked from the day before that I had a mini-breakdown and cried a little. Celene was my human crutch. We finally made it to camp and I needed the little R&R that was left of the day to prepare for the next day! All ascent until late in the end, then there is a sharp decline to a valley campsite. You find yourself crying out, ¨WHERE´S CAMP!?¨ on a fairly regular basis, at the top of your lungs. Try not to frighten the locals. |
| DAY EIGHT Start- past Punta Tapish 4,400m Finish- along R. Achin 4,000m n. L. Jahuacocha 4,066m. Ascent- 447m. steep push to start, then all downhill- THANK GOD Outlook- Did much better. It helps to go uphill and push the mules along. Celene and I seemed to practically jog up that pass. Not really but it was a good decent pull. Did I mention how much I love all the chocolate snacks we get to eat all the time? The campsite is fantastic, I again went swimming. The mountain views are all glaciers and almost blind you when it is shining brightly out. There was a special meal prepared for us of ´patchumunca´ or sheep smoked in the ground and marinated. I had a baby bite to celebrate the occasion. It is very very rich and chewy. My grandma tells me she prefers lamb. huh. |
| DAY NINE Start- n. L. Jahuacocha 4,066m. Finish- Llamac 3,300m Ascent- 300m a high point of 4,300m. Outlook- Had to HAUL ASS to make the bus. But it was a good swift way to end the trek! We made it back to Huaraz by the afternoon and it was nice to have a HUGE Chifa meal. Mmm, chifa. I will also be retiring my boots forever to the trash. My achilles heel will thank me for it someday I´m sure. |
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| Huayhuash Circuit - Peruvian Andes |
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