Wow, trekking in Peru was amazing! We met some new friends in Huaraz from Holland and Germany and joined them for a day hike to Lake 69 in the Cordillera Blanca. The scenery was absolutly amazing. The Cordillera Blanca has many snow capped peaks over 20,000 feet.
The hike started in a huge glacial valley at about 12,000 feet. The lake was 3,000 feet higher at 15,088 feet (new personal record). With only 1 day of acclimitization, we were lucky we didn´t have any issues with the altitude. It was pretty slow going on the last steep section, but overall everyone did great. The lake was an amazing color blue and was surrounded by towering peaks. It reminded us of Hamilton Lake in Sequoia National Park, but much higher in altitude.
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A few days ago we did an overnight hike into one of the deepest canyon in the world, Colca Canyon. It is about 2 times as deep as the Grand Canyon (peaks to river below). The walls are not as vertical as the Grand Canyon, but it was still very impressive. We hiked down from Cabanaconde to Oasis where we stayed the night in an adobe hut with a dirt floor. They also had a spring feed swimming pool. The views were amazing. We were also lucky to see a number of Andean Condors flying along the canyon edge before the hike. They cruise right past you as they float on the warm currents of air lifting from the deep canyon below. It was an amazing sight.
2 comments:
wow~ what a truly amazing adventure you are on...
Nice reference to Hamilton Lake. That was my last backpacking trip!
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