Author: Rachel

We ummed and ahhed for a long time as to whether we should do the Inca Trail. It’s not our style of walking – 500 people (300 porters & guides/200 clients) start the trail each day so it’s definitely not a quiet walk. In the end we decided it was *the* iconic way to enter Machu Picchu and to go for it. My expectations were set fairly low so it wasn’t hard to exceed them. We had rolled the dice with the weather going in October and we did end up with a fair bit of rain, fortunately most of the time it was overnight and not while we were walking. I’m glad we did it.

After our 3 days in the Sacred Valley we got picked up from Ollantaytambo which turned out to be a good strategic call, as it meant we were picked up around 6am instead some ghastly pre-4am pick up in Cusco.

The start of the Inca Trail – in the pouring rain

Bernie educating his “passengers” (as he liked to refer to the paying hikers)

Impressive Inca site (Llactapata) on day 1

Well, at least we’re in the tent while it’s pouring this time!

Our full contingent – 21 porters, 2 cooks, a waiter, 2 guides for 14 hikers

We were the only regular hikers in our group of 14 (you have to do it guided), with a couple it was their first time camping. Given the toilets were the some of the worst I’ve experienced it maybe wasn’t the best first camping experience! Though we did get amazing meals, coco tea delivered to our tents as a wake-up call, bowls of hot water to wash with, and most of our gear carried by porters so maybe that offsets the toilets…

Gear waiting to be loaded up on the porters

The route

When we started on day 1 it was chaos – there were people everywhere, and as it was pouring with rain a bit harder to keep the groups together. But, as there are several options for camp sites on night 1 everyone ends up a bit spread out by then. So, after day 1 the track never felt quite as busy. You did have to look out for fast moving porters coming up behind you!

Day 2 for some people is the hardest day as you have to ascend to Dead Woman’s Pass – the highest point on the trail at 4,215m. The approach to Dead Woman’s Pass is also the last opportunity for encounters with civilisation. On day 1 and up to mid-morning on day 2 there are locals with toilets you can pay to use, and stalls selling gatorade, beer, snacks, toilet paper etc. You certainly don’t feel like you’re in a particularly isolated environment.

The last opportunity to buy gatorade, beer, etc etc.

On day 1 I was not feeling at all acclimatised and while not quite bringing up the rear I wasn’t far from the back of our group. Most people seemed to be chomping at the bit to power on – admittedly day 1 was fairly flat and we didn’t get that high. Day 2 I felt like some acclimatisation was coming back to me and even with the 1,200m climb I felt pretty good. The climb was split into 3 sections of roughly 400m each where we had a break in between each section. Unsurprisingly, as this happens at low altitudes as well, the ascent really sorted out the fitness levels of the group.

I was surprised to find myself at the pass ahead of everyone else in our group. I think we learnt a lot in the Huayhuash about pacing at altitude, and I was able to stick to a slow but steady pace. This wasn’t all good – I spent a good part of the morning constantly leap frogging 4 young guys who would push themselves hard for a few minutes, blow up and have to rest, and then go again. I would go past them while they recovered then they’d blast past me, and then we’d repeat the same sequence. It would have been less annoying if they weren’t blasting music (which I really didn’t like) as they went. At one point I got the classic backhander from one of them: “If you’re able to do this then I definitely can”. Hah! Eventually they either ran out of energy or realised their strategy was rubbish as I didn’t see them again.

Looking back just as I got to the highest point – Dead Woman’s Pass

Unfortunately the pass was completely in cloud. When I first arrived I got a bit of a view back the way we came but it didn’t last long at all. By the time the majority of our group was up it had started raining, and was quite windy. Since there wasn’t much point to photos we set off down the other side as soon as we had everyone (except the slowest couple who were with our other guide).

Great views at Dead Woman’s Pass (4,215m)

Fortunately almost as soon as we dropped we could actually see stuff! Excepting day 1, the rest of the Inca Trail has a lot of stairs in it. We had done a fair bit of stair climbing before we left Australia in anticipation of this, but regardless we were very happy to have walking poles – particularly for the downhills.

Going down the other side we can actually see something!

The sun is out by the time we get to camp for night 2

At lunch on day 2 we had been presented with the, permissibly dodgy, option of combining day 3 & 4. The rationale being that since the rainy season had started we were unlikely to have a clear morning on day 4, so if we wanted to get views we were better off going through the sun gate in the afternoon of day 3. This unexpected option caused quite a lot of tension in our group.

We eventually agreed on night 2 that we’d give ourselves every opportunity to try and achieve this, which meant starting walking even earlier than usual. We were a bit late getting away – only walking at 5:20am not the intended 5am. Some people think day 2 is the hardest, but we were dreading day 3 – and that was before the prospect of combining it with day 4. With 1,100m of descent (and an extra 400m once you added day 4), much of it on stairs, we knew the pain that was capable of bringing.

Bernie giving us a llama impression

Some interesting sections on day 3

It’s not your typical bushwalk!

Amazing paving

Our group descending some of the many, many stairs that day 3 brings

Tom with some of the locals on the track

More stairs!

By mid-morning it became clear that not everyone in the group was going to be able to keep up the required pace, so we split into two groups. One which would stick to the original itinerary and the other which would combine day 3 & 4. The latter group, which Tom & I were part of, was under a bit of time pressure by the time we got to the (original) day 3 campsite where we would have lunch. For the plan to work we needed to be through the check point just after camp at 2pm. We had a delicious, if rushed, lunch, and then through the gate we went.

The main selling points for us on the new itinerary were:

• Tom had been suffering from gastro since before we started on day 1. The toilets were pretty average so getting to a hotel on night 3 was attractive.
• The usual itinerary has everyone getting up at 3am on day 4. I was well aware of that, but it was only when we got the briefing the night before we started that I realised we wouldn’t be walking after our early breakfast. Instead you have to sit for 2 hours at the checkpoint until they open it around 6am. The 2 hours of sitting around in the cold (and likely rain) was not something I’d been at all looking forward to. [Why does this happen? Because the porters need to be get the earliest train out of Aguas Calientes, so the get up time is to allow everything to get packed up and walked out in time to meet that train]
• And then of course – the reason that was actually being put forward – getting views when we arrived at Machu Picchu rather than being in cloud (or rain)

This time we’re going up the stairs! Just about to get to the sun gate

Our guide had promised ‘on his life’ we would get views that afternoon – so fortunately for him we did! I was a bit surprised at how many other walkers we encountered, but as I discovered the so-called ‘2 Day Inca Trail’ walkers are all on that section in the afternoon. But, compared to what it would have been like in the morning, it wasn’t overly busy.

The view that we’re here for

Classic Machu Picchu

With our revised plan we had to buy bus tickets down to Aguas Calientes and pay for a hotel – so a bit more expensive then just doing the original plan. I found us a local restaurant not far from our hotel where, despite being in a complete tourist trap town, we managed to have a decent dinner for 12 soles each (A$5). While I hadn’t suffered overly while we were walking that wasn’t the case overnight – waking in the middle of the night with a cracking headache and barely able to move. Some quite painful stretching and ibuprofen allowed me to get back to sleep, but it was a reminder of how tough the day had been.

The next morning the queues for the bus up to Machu Picchu were very long, but eventually we were on our way back up. The other guide sent a photo from the sun gate where they were in cloud (though not rain), so we all felt good about our decision to push on the day before.

Long queues for the bus in Aguas Calientes

Tom and I, along with 3 others from the group, bought the Huayna Picchu tickets as an add-on – to allow us to climb Huayna Picchu which is the hill behind Machu Picchu. I would highly recommend doing Huayna Picchu if you’re ever considering it. It is a very steep climb, but nowhere near as death-defying as some of the reports you read on the interwebs.

Views from Huayna Picchu

Views from Huayna Picchu

Views from Huayna Picchu – the switchback road is the bus route from Aguas Calientes

We found a canyon! (Descent from Huayna Picchu)

Tom at Machu Picchu

A somewhat interesting return to Cusco on day 4 – not long into what is meant to be a 1.5 hour train trip our train had a mechanical problem. We sat there for a while and a couple of trains went past (we were on a double section of track at that stage). When the next train approached suddenly a whole bunch of people swarmed the track and stopped it. It wasn’t clear what was going on. There had been protests only a few weeks earlier where the trains had been blocked so we thought that was what was happening. There were no updates from the train company so we sat there for 2 hours. Eventually a new engine arrived and then the people cleared the track for the other train and we were off. As it turned out the people on the track where all the guides from the tour companies (who travel in a ‘locals’ carriage separate from the foreigners) – including our guide. They had concluded that unless they stopped the other trains running we were just going to be left there forever, presumably they had a better idea of how things roll in Peru!

We eventually got into Cusco about 9pm, where we were too tired to try and find dinner, so we made do with a packet of chips and a cup a tea.

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I was going to pull out the times/distances/vertical but the GPS seemed to have a few difficulties in the mountains, so I’ll just include the picture which reflects our itinerary. There are several different options for where you overnight so the distances can be quite differently distributed over the 4 days. As you can see we did about half the track on our third day!

The travel from the Galapagos back to Peru was more brutal than we expected. I’d booked one of the later flights out of Baltra since it was so much cheaper, which meant a bit of a wait in Guayaquil before we continued on to Lima. I naively though that arriving in Lima at 10:30pm would mean the airport was quiet – incorrect! There was an even longer immigration queue than when we arrived the first time. It took just over 2 hours from when our plane touched down for us to make it out to our pre-arranged taxi driver. Fortunately (?) he was keen to get home so our trip to the nearby airport hotel was very fast. At 1am we settled down to try and get what sleep we could since we were going to be up again less than 5 hours later on our way back to the airport. Somewhat to our surprise we had the same driver – anyway, we got back to the airport and checked in with no dramas.

The flight into Cusco was a little exciting as the mountains surround the town so it was a somewhat fast, steep descent! Somewhat nervously we emerged with our luggage hoping someone would be there to meet us – I’d made the arrangements several months earlier and not received any further communication. Fortunately I spotted my name on a sign and we were soon piled into a car on our way from Cusco’s height of 3,300m to the Sacred Valley at a far more approachable 2,800m. I hadn’t thought through the altitude when we planned the trip – while I hoped that some of our acclimatisation from a month earlier would remain it was probably wishful thinking. Unsurprisingly after the whirlwind day of travel we weren’t feeling our best when we eventually got to Ollantaytambo!

We did manage to walk up to the Pinkulluna Ruins which overlook Ollantaytambo that afternoon – partially for acclimatisation, and more importantly they were free!

Tom above Ollantaytambo with the Pinkulluna Ruins behind him

The next day we purchased our Tourist Ticket and went for a wander around the impressive Ollantaytambo ruins.

Ollantaytambo Archaeological site

Ollantaytambo Archaeological site

Lazy llama – grazing while lying down!

Our final day in the Sacred Valley we engaged a driver to take us to three archaeological sites. We started at Chincero which I had low expectations for as all the pictures were of the whitewashed church, but it turned out to be a sprawling complex with many terraces. Tucked away in a far corner found some interesting dwellings (great camp caves!) under boulders. All surrounded by eucalyptus trees, so we felt somewhat at home.

Exploring the far reaches of Chincero – there are steps carved into the boulder where Tom is

The second site was Moray – when we arrived there was a massive queue of traffic and eventually our driver said we should just get out and walk. So we did, just as we’d walked the kilometre or so to get to the entry we saw him pulling up in the car park. For whatever reason the road to that car park is only open for specific times, and we’d arrived just before it opened. He emphasised we needed to be back within the hour as the road would close again. Fortunately, while Moray is impressive, it is not a huge site so we were able to do a lap within the hour. We had hoped to eat our lunch there but no time for that!

Tom at the impressive Moray archaeological site

Me & Tom at Moray

Our last stop for the day was the Salineras de Maras – the salt mines of Maras. These were fascinating, and we found time to eat our lunch 🙂

Salineras de Maras – salt mines

We were back in Ollantaytambo by mid-afternoon with enough time for a quick visit to the Quellorakay ruins before an early dinner. The early dinner was necessary as we had a briefing call about the Inca Trail which we were starting the next morning.

An evening stroll to the Quellorakay ruins, on the southern outskirts of Ollantaytambo

All of our efforts in acclimatisation were building up to doing the Huayhuash Circuit. The Huayhuash is a mountain range in the Peruvian Andes, a few hours from Huaraz. The so-called “Huayhuash Circuit” can be done with a few different configurations, for us it was a 10-day trek.

Our route

We did it as a guided trip, which meant we only needed to carry day packs. We each had a 7kg duffel that went on the donkeys, along with group equipment such as tents (including a cooking tent and mess tent – great when it was raining!). We had a group of 10 trekkers, and 5 support staff including a guide, two donkey drivers, a chef and assistant chef. Out team – both walkers and support – was great. There were in fact two groups from our trekking company starting at the same time, but we anointed ourselves Team A, or Team Colourful – and the other team as Team B (Blue, Boring)! We were kept relatively separate while we were walking – but we had a bit of interaction at camp, along with various independent walkers and a couple of other guided groups.

As with most hiking in Peru there’s significant altitude to deal with. For me & Tom it was our first time above 3,400m. The altitude was the main reason we elected to do it as a guided trip. We were very thankful for our decision – walking was hard enough just with day packs. We had Diamox from our doctors back home – with some pretty vague advice about how and when to use it. After doing internet research (what could possibly go wrong?) Tom & I elected to take a quarter-tablet dosage twice-daily for the first 3 or 4 days as a preventative measure. Whether it made a difference or not who knows? But we didn’t have any altitude issues.

Day 1: Huaraz to Matacancha

We had a 4:30am pickup, then a long 4 hour drive on some pretty bad roads, to get us to breakfast about 9am. I was expecting a lot more driving after breakfast but less than half an hour later we arrived at our campsite.

The walking on day 1 was largely just about more acclimatisation. Camp for the night was at 4,100m, so a 1,000m jump from Huaraz. We walked up a nearby hill with day packs, from where we had been driven to. This was our first experience of having Robert, our guide, set the pace. It was very, very slow – but we needed it!

Some more excited than others on our day 1 acclimatisation walk! (Robert our guide on the right)

After our walk we were able to settle into camp. Each ‘couple’ were assigned a tent number (written on the tent), which was your tent for the whole trip. This had the advantage of meaning there wasn’t a scramble for the best-pitched tent – some days you got lucky and other days you didn’t. Jo & I were sharing a tent since when I invited her on the trip Tom wasn’t meant to be coming on this section. When he made the late decision to extend the time he had off I’d told him he’d have to share with a random, so he was in a tent with Yusuf. Fortunately they seemed well aligned as they both wanted to get up much earlier each morning than the rest of us, as they were both faffers.

Camp night 1 – yes, the slope of the tent is real. Though Jo & I got one of the flatter pitches.

Our group was made up of me, Tom & Jo, plus another Aussie woman from Brissie, a couple from Washington State, a woman from Canada, two women from France and Tom’s tent mate from Iran (but living in the UK). I suspect the non-Australians probably had a bit too much Aussie content by the end of the trip. Team B was largely made of up Brits (another reason for being Team B).

Day 2: Matacancha to Mitucocha

Despite the altitude jump I slept really well. We had coca tea delivered to our tent – what was to become our regular wake-up call (though we generally set an alarm for a little earlier). This was my first experience of coca tea and I didn’t like it. I started feeling a bit off before breakfast and couldn’t finish eating it. I’d already had to fight the nauseous feeling around the smelly toilet, but just after we started walking, and got to a fresh pile of donkey dung, I couldn’t fight it any more. I vomited just off the track. A great start to our first real trekking day! As is often the case I felt better for it and we kept going, but then I started to overheat with so many layers on now that we were climbing. I clearly hadn’t emptied my stomach sufficiently so it wasn’t long till I vomited again.

The windy track leading up to our first high pass in the distance

At this point our guide was assuming I had some sort of altitude issue and was quizzing me on our acclimatisation preparation. I was pretty sure it was just something wrong with my stomach – whether that was better or worse I don’t know! Fortunately, after the second vomit, that was the end of it, and I was fine for the rest of day (and the trip). I laid the blame on the coca tea and didn’t touch it again.

The mules following (but soon to overtake!)

We made our way over our high pass for the trip, Cacanan at 4,700m, and then down to our spectacular campsite – mountain views from our tent doors. We had a short walk up to the shores of  Mitucocha Lake in the afternoon where we spotted some Andean Geese and a Caracara (Falcon).

Mules & donkeys grazing at camp on night 2

Day 3: Mitucocha to Carhuacocha

The day started with a very gradual ascent which was nice. Today was the first of the “alternative” routes – where we left the donkey route and went on a trekkers only route.

Our team: the 4 Aussies in the front row, Robert our guide holding the banner.

Hugging the mountain

The highlight of the day was a spectacular viewpoint over three lakes. We had lots of photos there before a very steep descent down to camp.

Tom channelling Smiffy

It didn’t feel like the track would be usable for that many more years as it was very dirt-based and so steep.

The start of the steep descent to camp (the eagle-eyed will spot the yellow tents at the far edge of the lake)

Camp was once again in a spectacular spot. Some braver people than me dared a swim in the lake we were camped next to.

Spectacular camp on night 3 (but more slopey pitched tents!). Arguably the most scenic of our camps.

Despite us only being a couple of days into the trip we soon became familiar with some of Robert’s favourite phrases. When he got asked what an ascent was going to be like, the response was inevitably one or more of “Muy facil!”, “Piece of cake”, “Easy Peasy”. Usually more emphatically the harder the ascent was likely to be. And when asked what the weather was going to be like “I’m a guide, not a god”. Or when asked for more future detail than he felt was necessary: “Today is gift, tomorrow is a mystery”.

Day 4: Carhuacocha > Huayhuash

The team was keen for us to get going early – aiming for a 6:45am departure. Such that while we were eating breakfast in the mess tent it got lifted off over our heads so they could get it packed! Fortunately it was a lovely morning for an al fresco breakfast.

Some wildlife spotted early on as we walked round the lake – a chinchilla and a fox. We did a short side trip to a viewpoint over a lake with ice in it.

Well worthwhile side trip for views over this lake

Then we continued our gradual climb – but we could see where we were heading in front of us – and it was much steeper!

Still climbing but in one of the flatter sections

We made our way up the steep pass to the ‘traditional’ three lakes viewpoint – the same three lakes as the day before but from a completely different perspective. That wasn’t our high point though – another hour or so got us to the high point of 4,800m at Siula Pass.

Part way of the steep pass – looking back at the magnificent scenery

This was the only day we had lunch while we were walking (every other day we had it at camp). The team carrying lunch had pushed on and found us a somewhat sheltered spot just below the pass. And what a civilised lunch it was – fried rice – and it went down a treat!

Lunch in a sheltered spot just off the top of the pass

Jo, with camp now visible a long way below us

It was lovely warm afternoon, and Tom & I managed to have wash in the stream below camp which was very refreshing.

Day 5: Huayhuash to Huanacpatay

Another day where the team was keen to get going so another al fresco breakfast. The tent being lifted off over your head while sitting at the table is a little disconcerting. We were walking by 7am.

Al fresco breakfast

We had a gradual ascent (700m) up the valley to eventually reach the San Antonio pass at 5,030m. The group took the decision to do a side trip up to a lookout at 5,145m – which would be our highest point of the trip. It was well worthwhile with great views of the mountains and glaciers.

Tom & Jo on our side trip to 5,145m

Then it was, unsurprisingly, a long descent with quite a lot of undulation. We afterwards referred to this as the “zombie day” as most of the team really faded as we descended. We didn’t get to camp until 1:45pm – fortunately lunch was ready almost as soon as we arrived. I understand why the team preferred to give us lunch at camp – it was much easier for the chef to have the mess tent and cooking gear set up, but I would have been much happier on a few of the days (like this one) to have a packed lunch.

Beautiful afternoon at camp

One of the routines of the day was “tea time”, usually around 4pm, where we had tea (well, hot drinks) and some snacks. My favourites were the tequeños (wontons with cheese). On a day like today, it felt like we’d barely finished lunch when it was time for tea time!

Day 6: Huanacpatay to Cutatambo

There was precipitation during the night which intensified as we got closer to get up time – hail/snow rather than rain. Fortunately we weren’t subjected to an al fresco breakfast this day! Despite the weather the walkers were largely ready at 7am, though camp was nowhere near packed up compared to usual. The snow stopped just before we started and the cloud lifted. Everything was covered in a layer of snow – for those of us unused to snow it was quite magical (the Canadian was perhaps less enthralled).

The same campsite the next morning!

The 700m ascent to our high pass, Santa Rosa (Jurao?), was pretty steady. Steeper initially then through a flattish bowl surrounded by snow. We got adopted by a dog somewhere up there which hung around with us for the rest of the day. We got to the pass at 5,080m by 10:30am, where we had good views and it wasn’t raining.

On our way up to Santa Rosa

The dog joined us and stuck with us for the rest of the day.

Descending before the sleet started up

The sleet started again as we started our descent – though the views were still good despite that. It was really stunning, my favourite day of the trip, regardless of the weather. As we got lower the sleet stopped and we could enjoy views of the glacier and the lakes.

Tom in the sleet, with amazing views

We made it into camp at midday. This was another day where the donkeys took a different (much longer but flatter) route. The donkeys had only just got into camp as we arrived, so it was fair while until lunch was ready. I quizzed Robert about when we were going fishing as our pre-walk notes had said “you will be able to practice one of your favourite sports fishing, we will provide you typical fishing material and worm, with a little bit of luck you will enjoy of delicious fried trout at tea time”. He laughed and, not for the first time, muttered things about head office writing fantasies about what happened in the field.

Six of the team headed up with Robert to Siula Grand Base Camp (no fishing equipment in sight), unfortunately Tom and I weren’t with them – both nursing niggles that we figured shouldn’t be subjected to optional things. Siula Grand was the mountain made famous by Joe Simpson’s book “Touching the Void”.

Despite only 4 of us remaining at camp the food served up at tea-time was enough for 10. Unfortunately for me it was popcorn (not a fan) but the other 3 made a valiant effort to make their way through it. There was much discussion about what had happened to Team B, as they did not appear at camp that night.

Day 7: Cutatambo to Huayllapa

It was a cold night – the tent was frozen in the morning. Tom said that the dog was asleep outside his tent when we got up. Probably unsurprisingly it was a beautiful, clear morning with great views of the surrounding peaks.

Tom in the early morning – ice on the tents

Poor old doggo, trying to keep warm. Note the ice on the donkey poo.

This was our only day without a big ascent/descent and so it was a somewhat relaxed pack up, and we got pancakes for breakfast! We walked in the sunshine down the river valley – only 3.5 hours including a morning tea stop.

The trail became more and more civilised (though very rocky) as we approached the village

On the first day we’d needed to make a group decision about whether we going to stay in a ‘hostel’ in the village on this night, or whether we were going to camp. Some in the group had very strong opinions about wanting to stay in the hostel (showers & wi-fi I think being the primary motivators), and so it was a bit awkward for those of us who weren’t so keen. It was a little bit confusing as I was keen to push on for a bit, to reduce the climbing the following day, and camp outside the village. That had been an option in the pre-trip documentation but it didn’t seem to be an option presented to us – it was either the hostel, or camp within the village. When presented with only those two options then the hostel seemed like a no-brainer.

Enjoying tea (& wifi) in the courtyard of our hostel

Some of my hesitation for the hostel was from reading other blogs which implied rowdiness at the hostel. As it turned out there were many ‘hostels’ – which were more like guesthouses. Our group largely had one place to ourselves. I think the big disappointment for most was that Robert had promised us hot showers. Anyone who has travelled in Peru for any length of time has got to be dubious about claimed hot water, so I wasn’t that surprised when my shower wasn’t hot. Unfortunately, it turned out, after most of us had endured the cold shower that the heating unit just hadn’t been plugged in. D’oh.

Dinner was the world’s biggest serves of spag bol – even when we asked for halved versions they were very substantial.

Day 8: Huayllapa to Cashpapampa

As it turned out it rained overnight so we were feeling pretty happy about being indoors. It was an easier pack-up than usual and then we were off for 5.5 hours of ascent. We’d dropped quite a lot (but very gradually) the day before so we needed to regain that, and more (all up 1,300m ascent) to go over the Tapush high pass.

Slowly slogging our way up 1,300m

Then we had an hour of descent to our highest camp of the trip at 4,450m. We were glad to see Team B here – with the sickness that had affected some of their party they’d lost a few members who left early. I’d asked Robert if perhaps they would have had 2 nights at this camp and perhaps climbed Diablo Mudo? Our notes had suggested that was an option – it was only once we saw Diablo Mudo we realised it was a full mountaineering peak and another example of head office fantasy writing!

Once we got to each camp the mules and donkeys were generally let loose to graze. (And apparently it was quite amusing seeing the team re-capture them each morning, but we were always walking before that happened.)

I think most of the team were napping when the donkeys decided that the toilet blocks were an easier drinking spot than the creek. It was somewhat of a good thing because the big basin outside the toilets was blocked and almost overflowing, and once the donkeys had been past it was almost empty. A poor woman was in one of the cubicles when they arrived and had quite a fright when she exited to find a donkey immediately outside the door. It took a little while for some of the donkey drivers to notice and chase them off.

The donkeys decide the toilets are the best place to drink water

The rain started in the early evening so we had an early dinner. It made it much trickier for the team to serve us when it was pouring down outside. There was also some big thunder and lightning rolling around. Dinner was always made up of three courses – a delicious soup to start with, followed by a main – normally featuring potatoes or rice (or both!), and ending with a small dessert – usually a couple of pieces of fruit with some sugar syrup. So there was always plenty of coming and going between the cook tent and the mess tent as the different courses were served and then cleared. After dinner some of us would sit round and drink tea and play cards, but this night we eventually did somewhat miserable dashes out into the rain to toilet before getting into our tents.

There were a handful of dogs doing the walk with us, I think only one belonged to a guide, the rest were just itinerants. This particular night we all wanted to kill one that spent the night barking at it’s echo – a very circular feedback mechanism.

Day 9: Cashpapampa to Jahuacocha

I was glad to wake to clear skies after the weather the previous evening. I’m not sure why, but I was surprised to find the tent was frozen solid. I continued to be in awe watching our crew packing everything up with bare hands. That was definitely something worth paying for – not having to fold up frozen tent poles in the morning!

Our morning routine was:

• coca tea in the tents (or not in my case)
• pack everything up into either the duffels (for the donkeys) or our day packs
• roll up our bed rolls, and get everything out of the tents
• the crew would pounce on the tents as soon as they were empty to pack them up
• then as soon as breakfast was done (or earlier!) the mess tent would get packed
• the walkers would set off
• everything else would get strapped onto the donkeys
• not long after (if we were on the donkey trail) we’d get overtaken by the donkeys, the donkey drivers and cooks, who’d then push on to camp and set everything up, so that generally we could go straight to our tents when we arrived

Our highest camp of the trip

We descended a bit of a way before starting the ascent to the high pass. I was struggling more than usual with getting air into the lungs and found the ascent pretty hard going. It took us a couple of hours to get to the Yahucha high pass at 4,800m. Oh, except that wasn’t the high point, we had a further 60m of ascent on an alternative trail to a spectacular viewpoint. We had a nice long break there – some of the group headed further up the ridge, but I figured the views weren’t really going to change.

The final 60m ascent to our high point of the day

Spectacular high point views for the day

We then had a very speccy ridge walk – though being completely open it was quite windy.

Speccy ridge walking

Cactus in flower

This was followed by a steep and painful 700m direct descent to camp.

People starting the steep, direct descent to camp (on the foreshore of the lake)

Camp was very busy – I think people who do shorter versions end up camping here. There were also locals selling beer, soft drinks and wi-fi access – which was definitely an indication we were nearing civilisation.

The rain, then hail, set in again in the afternoon. Our French companions had been waiting for the pizza to make an appearance and they were finally rewarded when it came out at tea-time on our final afternoon.

Fortunately the rain eased off a bit for dinner. We had a number of thank you speeches, and mulled wine, as it was our last night.

Day 10: Jahuacocha to Illamac (and back to Huaraz)

Robert had told us the night before we had to get up at 5am as there were sections of the road which were only open between 12-1pm and 5-6pm on the way back to Huaraz. We needed to get out so that we’d hit the 12-1pm opening. So we woke up in the dark and there was frenetic feeding by the kitchen the moment you looked like you were even vaguely ready for breakfast. We were walking at 6am.

Camp the next morning, with evidence of the weather around the tents

Beautiful early morning views, looking back in the direction of our campsite

Robert had basically forced us into choosing the alternative trail instead of the donkey trail. Normally I would have been keen for the alternative trail (no donkey poo, and often more spectacular), but in this case the donkey trail went over a high pass. Robert said it would take 1.5 hours longer, which we didn’t have because of the road closures. We were a bit disgruntled by this, so I was delighted to find the alternative trail was a balcony path following an irrigation pipe. It was a great (& flat) route but… it did go on and on (maybe 10km). Eventually we got to our descent by which point it was quite hot and in full sun.

The long balcony path stretches out almost as far as the eye can see

For one of the few times in the trip Robert had been leading from the back, and we’d been able to set our own pace. I was pretty footsore and hot by the time we got to the village of Illamac at the bottom.

The final stretch into Illamac

We were directed to someone’s house in the village for a traditional Peruvian meal. We were a bit concerned when they only started cooking after we got there – since it involved covering everything in hot stones – not a quick technique! So I asked about the road closures, and we were informed ‘oh no, it’s Sunday so there aren’t any’. Half the group quite unimpressed by our early wake up!

But that meant we could sit back enjoy the Pisco Sours and lunch. While the bus ride back was long there were no closures, and we were checked into our accommodation in Huaraz just after 5pm. Unfortunately almost everyone from both our trip, and Team B were staying at the same accommodation so the hot water ran out pretty quickly.

Summary of the trip below – based on the information provided by our guiding company combined with GPS data, so includes small ups & downs as well as the major ascent/descents.

Getting to Huaraz is a bit of effort from Sydney. Two days of travel – a long-haul flight to Santiago, an intra-continental flight to Lima, a night in an airport hotel, and then a domestic flight to Huaraz. We eventually got to the first destination of our trip. My optimistic schedule had us going hiking the afternoon we arrived – we soon realised that was craziness. Not only were we contending with a 16 hour time difference, more importantly we’d gone from sea level to over 3,000m in one short flight. That I’d booked us an apartment not only on the upper slopes of town, but also 3 flights of stairs up the building, gave us more than enough of a workout for the first day!

I believe we’re in Huaraz

The next day however we set out on our first acclimatisation walk.

Laguna Wilcacocha

7 September

Laguna Wilcacocha is a mere 6km return walk, rising to something I’d seen described as the “Wilcacocha Pond” in a blog – so my expectations for scenery were not overly high. If it wasn’t for foreigners needing to acclimatise I doubt this walk would get much attention. But as it is relatively close to Huaraz, and climbs to 3,720m it makes for an excellent first acclimatisation walk.

The first challenge was getting to the walk – we used the details from this very helpful blog to make our way to the Mercado Central de Huaraz and locate a Line 10/E colectivo (minibus). With S/2 clutched in our hands, not sure when or how we paid it*, we piled in with all the locals and hoped we’d end up in the right place. Twenty minutes later, feeling very accomplished, we were deposited at the trailhead.

The trailhead

From there it was pretty much just up and up and up. It was hard work with the altitude so very slow going! The higher we got the better the views of Cordillera Blanca. The route was mainly just winding up tracks/roads through a village. We felt somewhat at home as we wandered past stands of Tasmanian Blue Gums (which we saw in many places through South America).

Hot and sun-exposed track

When we eventually topped out at the ‘pond’ we were all ready for a rest to let our breath catch up with us. There were great views of the range, so ignoring the pond we gazed out on the mountains for an hour or so.

Laguna Wilcacocha

This was our first experience of the dogs of South America. We were somewhat nervous of them given the non-zero risk of rabies, but generally they just looked hopeful that we were going to share our lunch (we weren’t). The interactions between the dogs and the geese around the lake were far more vigorous!

Mountain views and one of the many dogs we encountered

It was a pretty hot day, and we were baking on the trail on the way down as there is little shade and you’re in the full sun. We passed many people on their way up who were not having a good time of it.

Our colectivo ride back to Huaraz was quite exciting – we’d thought the driver on the way out had been going fast, but by comparison to the trip back he’d been somewhat sedate.

*I’m not sure when the locals paid, but the kid managing the fares seemed somewhat used to hapless tourists doing this route and just took our money when we got out.

Laguna Rocotuyoc (Pacchoruri Valley)

8 September

The early morning peace was shattered by a council worker wielding a whipper-snipper on the median strip below our apartment at 6am. Once we’d worked out what was causing the racket we were somewhat relieved. The grass was cut about as low as it could go – so we were confident it wasn’t going to need any further attention while we were there.

The trip to Laguna Rocotuyoc is more of a bus trip than a walk, but the important thing is gaining altitude. We were picked up at 8:30am and after collecting everyone, headed out on the road past the airport. We stopped at a café where it was unclear to us what was happening. Our Spanish-speaking guide had little interest in communicating with us and eventually gave us ’20 minutes, tea, coffee’. We weren’t interested in tea/coffee so just hung out outside with various other English-speakers from the many tour buses that had all stopped at the café at the same time. Just as we were about to leave a guy from Canberra (from a different bus) says “You know why we’re here, right? to pre-order lunch to eat on the way back”. Right… well, I guess we weren’t getting any lunch.

From there it was 1.25 hours of driving up very windy roads to reach the trailhead at 12pm. The trailhead was at 4,500m and our ‘hike’ followed the shore of Laguna Rocotuyoc to another small laguna which feeds it.

Laguna Rocotuyoc from the car park – the secondary lake is behind the rocky outcrop at the other end of the laguna

The shoreline track undulated somewhat and there was 50m climb to the other lake – 50 metres of ascent has never felt so hard!

Jo coming down from one of the slightly scrambly sections

The secondary lake was stunning – our first views of icebergs for the trip. If only we had lunch to eat while we sat and appreciated it – instead we had some manky apples.

The upper lake

At 2:30pm we departed, hoping that the lunch situation was incorrect given how late it was. But, no, 3:40pm back at the café and everyone else had their pre-ordered lunches. At least we weren’t really hungry! By the time they had all eaten we didn’t get back to Huaraz till 5pm.

The adventure for the day didn’t stop there. We were just about to head out for dinner (which we were pretty keen for given the lack of lunch) when power went out for the entire valley. We waited a bit but it didn’t come back on so eventually we decided we needed to go look for something to eat – we didn’t have anything in the apartment, unlike at home when you have a pantry to fall back on. After much walking, we found a place that was preparing kebabs on a gas burner so with much relief we got something in our stomachs!

Kebabs by torch/candlelight

Laguna 69

9 September

Another bus trip but this time a 5:20am pick-up. To our surprise it was an almost full-size bus. To my relief the person who called on approach had some English, unlike the day before. We tried to settle in for the long drive but between uncomfortable seats, people not using headphones and general conversation I didn’t manage any sleep. We had a half-hour stop by police (?), but eventually got back on our way and after many winding dirt roads stopped for breakfast. The breakfast place had a very efficient system of taking orders and food appearing within minutes. The orderer struggled with Jo’s name – since there’s not really a J sound in Spanish.

Our breakfast orders (Tom = Tom, Reychu = Rachel, Lley = Jo)

Then it was back in the bus for more windy switchbacks. We had a brief photo stop at a lake and then we arrived at the trailhead around 9:30am. Our time budget for the day was 3 hours to ascend 700m/6km, an hour at the lake, then 2 hours to descend. We would get turned around if we weren’t tracking to that.

Chinancocha (or maybe Orconcocha) lagoon, where we had a brief bus stop on our way up

The track started flattish – and we needed to slow our pace, as despite the flat, we were already at 3,900m and working hard on the smallest of inclines. Unusually Tom was well in front of me and Jo – normally he’s lagging behind taking photos, but we were moving far slower than he was.

Jo on the early flat-ish section

After the flattish section the track moves into a series of gentle switchbacks which Jo & I felt quite good on and we overtook a lot of people. I’d not yet learnt ‘permiso’ (permission?) was the more appropriate phrase, and spouted a lot of ‘disculpe’ (excuse me) the whole way up.

The track then goes into another flat section at around 4,300m which was deceptively hard as it did have a slight incline. The final 250m of ascent was up steeper switchbacks and was brutal. We all found the last section pretty tough, but made it up to Laguna 69 in 2 hours 40 minutes.

Tom and Jo having a breather on the final steeper switchbacks

We made it!

The sun even came out and we found a nice spot for lunch somewhat away from the hordes doing their insta-photo shoots.

We felt better once we were sitting down, but even getting up to take a photo brought on headspins. That’s what 4,600m feels like on day 4 of acclimatisation apparently!

The dizzying heights of Laguna 69

Obviously the descent was far easier and I chatted with a random guy, Leo, most of the way down. At the bottom he wanted a photo with me to send to his parents!?

Very much like a paperbark tree

From there it was straight on the bus for a tedious 3.5 hour drive back to Huaraz. The bus was very warm and we were all feeling pretty rubbish by the time we got off. Unsurprisingly we were pretty early to bed that night!

—

We had intended to get to Laguna Churup the following day but ended up having two rest days instead, so that we weren’t exhausted going into the Huayhuash Circuit.

Sydney had suffered through its wettest August in a million years, and the week leading up to the walk was day after day of grey skies and precipitation (153mm in Sydney). Yet, most of the time when I looked at the radar our walking area for the weekend wasn’t getting that much rain. The weekend itself was quite a good forecast, but seeing the downpours on Thursday and river levels rising I decided it was prudent to change my planned route. 4km of unknown walking along the Kowmung when the river was likely breaching its banks didn’t sound like the safest option.

A little bit of a peak!

The forecast had suggested that the rain would ease on Friday afternoon, so it was with some disappointment that KT and I drove through the mountains in the rain. We hunkered down in front of the fire at the pub in Oberon for as long as could, but eventually we had to bite the bullet and head out to Mt Werong for the night. We arrived to a cavalcade of emergency response vehicles basically blocking the road in front of the campground.

Given we’d driven through fog, drizzle and rain to get out there, part of me was hoping that the road was closed, and we would have to turn around and head home to our warm dry(ish!) houses. Fortunately (in retrospect), the police officer I spoke to assured me it was open, but reminded me the creeks would be up. The emergency vehicles eventually left later than evening.

The next morning dawned clear – and the 5 members of the party were all assembled on time at 7:30am. We drove two cars further out along the road, fortunately finding a non-boggy shoulder to park on. I was bit worried about the revised route I’d selected, as parts of it had been toasted in the 2019 fires. However, we ran in to little serious regrowth and made good time. So good that we were at Hatchers Hollow by 1:30pm (having had lunch on the ridge). Perhaps we could have started a little later… but you never know what the conditions are going to be!

Making our way through the wattle

Stephen had lowered our expectations for Hatchers Hollow – saying it had been pretty boggy when he was there a couple of years earlier. It was to my great delight that we popped out into a reasonably clear, grassy area that didn’t appear to be a swamp. Obviously with the amount of rain in the preceding week everything was a bit damp, but a 4 star campsite!

Not quite it’s former glory… but pretty good camping

We set about setting up, the headed out to have a look at the Kowmung River.

KT on the way to checking out the Kowmung

I think we all had similar thoughts as we dropped over the small ridge which separates Hatchers Hollow from the river; “Good thing the route got changed!”. The Kowmung was pumping!

She’s pumping

It was hard to tell how far about normal levels it was – but you could see trees that normally wouldn’t be in the flow at least half a metre under water, so I’d be guessing it was a least a metre higher than usual. We followed it down to Hatchers Creek and then retraced our steps upstream, and tried to keep going upstream but were bluffed out, so headed back to camp.

Heading downstream towards Hatchers Creek

Can we get further upstream? (no)

Some parts of Hatchers Hollow not so camp friendly

Dry feet crossing of Redcliff Creek

I was still keen to head upstream to see what conditions were where I’d wanted to walk – but even Redcliff Creek was flowing so strongly that crossing would have been a definite wet feet proposition. My motivation wasn’t that high if we were going to get wet, so instead we walked up the creek ostensibly to see Lower Redcliff Falls (Dunphy Map, not on the topo). We were eventually repulsed from that option as well by bluffs and scrub – and my review of the LiDAR didn’t really show any likely spots for the falls anyway.

Nom, nom, nom

Despite the wet wood we got a good campfire going and had a pleasant evening.

A relatively late start (8:30am!) the next morning had us retracing our route up Redcliff Creek and then climbing steeply, through some of the most vicious nettles I’ve encountered in some time, to the saddle on the Irrae Gower ridgeline.

Steep climb out of Redcliff Creek

From there the rest of the day was just ascending – just a question of how steep, how vegetated and how good the views were at any given moment. The scrub wasn’t particularly bad, other than a couple of hundred metres before the ridge swings from east-west to north-west. The best section was before it flattened out where it was rocky with limited trees so we had extensive views from Mt Colong and the Blue Breaks round to Mt Doris and then up the Kowmung River valley. A brilliant lunch spot in the sun to appreciate the Kanangra Wilderness.

Kanangra views

More traditional Kanangra ridge walking

Moona Loombah Walls

Nice open section

There was an unpleasant section of thick wattle/eucalypt spiked with fallen trees that threatened to put our pace to <1km/hour, but pleasingly it didn’t last too long and we were soon back on open squelchy heath. I realised as we neared the road I didn’t know exactly where we left the car. Fortunately a couple of other party members had marked the spot so we turned in the right direction at the road, and just a couple of minutes later were back at the cars at the very civilised time of 2:30pm.

Easy, if a bit squelchy, plateau walking

A great weekend in the bush, despite the apprehension leading up to it!

This was a second attempt to do a massive bush-bashing epic in post-fires regrowth at Kanangra. Last year when I had it on the SBW Program NPWS closed the Kanangra Walls Road a week before we were supposed to go, so we ended up in Winburndale instead. This year when I put it on the SBW Program for a second time the road closed itself in an attempt to thwart the trip.

Half of the group had decided to stay in Oberon the night before the trip. Everyone was due to meet at the Kanangra Walls carpark at 7:30am, to try and ensure we’d get to camp before dark. It was mizzly foggy morning as we drove through Edith and eventually on to the Walls Road. Only a few kilometres in we pulled up behind Peter, who was stopped by a large tree completely blocking the road.

Blocked road

Tent in middle of road

On the other side of the tree was a tent in the middle of the road, and a ute blocking the obvious route to attempt to get around the tree. After a little bit of investigation we realised the ute was stuck, and our conversation roused the tent occupants. “Have you come to rescue us” a hopeful voice called from within. Peter assuredly said yes. Fortunately for Jessie & Simon, Peter has a well equipped Land Cruiser. Soon there were recovery boards under their front wheels, but sadly no amount of digging or wedging could get any movement. Next came the winch which was far more successful and soon we had Jessie’s ute no longer nestled with its belly in a mound of dirt. We were rewarded with Caramello Koalas.

After the ute has been winched

With the way around the log cleared we had to decide what to do. It was clear our car wasn’t going to be up for the detour so it would need to remain on the Oberon side of the log. Tom wasn’t feeling up to the trip, so given the circumstances he decided to bail, with instructions to call someone and let them know about the log! So after a quick repack Jo & I transferred to the mighty Land Cruiser and we were on our way.

The remaining party members were hopefully on the other side of the log since they hadn’t arrived behind us. Presumably they were wondering what had become of us, as we were now going to arrive an hour past the scheduled meeting time. With very little reception on the Kanangra Road it makes communicating almost impossible. I’d been clear in my notes that I was only going to wait 15 minutes if people hadn’t turned up – but I didn’t include a contingency plan if I wasn’t there! I wasn’t sure if they would have set off on their own walk, or whether we would bump into them on their way out. We found Anthony a short way back from the car park at the rise where there is some reception trying to contact us.

Eventually we were all at the car park, and now I had to decide what to do. The forecast for the weekend was reasonable, but it had been a very wet week. I had thought the rain had been quite coastal – until I saw that Katoomba had 143mm on the Thursday and Oberon 57mm. Everything was going to be wet. Timings from Stephen & Anthony’s last trip on the planned route indicated we’d be getting in after dark – and Saturday was meant to be the easier of the two days. So given the time I decided we were better off doing something else.

After throwing around a couple of ideas we settled on 1000 Man Cave – even though I didn’t have the paper maps beyond Stormbreaker with me. I hoped with the experience in the party and the number of mapping devices on people’s phones we’d be able to find it!

After that start the rest of the trip was relatively uneventual. The scale of the recent rainfall was well and truly evident as we walked out over the plateau. Kanangra Main and Kalang were pumping, and more to my surprise there were a series of further waterfalls (Danae and other drops) which were also impressive.

Moody start to Saturday

Kanangra Main and Kalang Falls in full flow

The vegetation has grown a fair bit since my last visit in 2022!

No one wants to look at the camera

Slightly better hit rate in this shot!

Pass to 1000 man cave

Enjoying views

Since I carried a tent in I may as well use it…

I was very confident the tree would be cleared by the time we got out the next day, but not everyone else shared my confidence. We debated whether to take a longer route out up the Gingra but with the uncertainty around the log, the consensus was to take the known route back. I wasn’t expecting to hear anything from Tom to confirm either way, so it was a nice surprise to pick up a message from him just before I went to sleep to say Oberon Council had confirmed the tree had been dealt with.

Gorgeous sunrise

a few minutes later (all from the warmth of my sleeping bag)

We headed back out the way we came. Well, not always exactly the way we came. I definitely managed to find a few sections of scrub on the way back to Cloudmaker that we hadn’t encountered the day before.

Morning tea views from Rip Knoll

Lunch views from Mt Berry

Fortunately the wind had dropped off by the time we got to Mt Berry so we could enjoy the spectacular views without being chilled to the bone.

Ascending Gordon Smith Pass

Some “helpful” person had defaced a lot of rocks in the vicinity of Gordon Smith Pass 🙁

Such a great view

Kalang and Kanangra Main on Sunday afternoon

Back at the cars at 3:30pm we were unimpeded on our drive back to civilisation.