There are many tour guides in
Huaraz offering day trips. Typically you will will be picked up at your
hotel between 7 and 8am in the morning and dropped off at your hotel
between 6 and 7pm in the evening. Some of the day trips that the guided
services offer - you can do yourself. Read on!
Bike Riding - there are
some great bike riding opportunities both in the Cordillera Negra and
Blanca. There are several agencies in town that rent mountain bikes. We
used Galaxia Expeditions
www.galaxia-expeditions.com - a mountain bike will run about $15 US
dollars to rent per day.
For riding in the Cordillera Negra - we just explored on our own from
Huaraz. The brown hills of the Cordillera Negra come right down to the
western side of Huaraz and its easy to jump on any dirt road and just
start exploring.
| Behind Huaraz in the Cordillera Blanca there
are a variety of dirt roads and single track trails. In a day
you can climb 4000 to 5000 feet above the town of Huaraz. That's
some killer downhill! You can go with agencies who often drop
you off high up in the Andes so that you can bike down, or you
can go yourself and just bike from Huaraz exploring the upper
alpine slopes way above town. Typically above Huaraz you will
road dirt roads through small villages until you finally get
onto the upper alpine more barren slopes above all the
population. This is usually around 12,000 to 12,500 feet. |
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Carhuaz is a small town with a small "zocalo" or town
square. This is a great place to people watch or just to sit down and
relax. This town is known for its many ice cream shops, especially
fruit flavors including Cherimoya, Lucuma, and Guanabana. Day trips with a tourist company usually stop in this
town for at least 30 minutes.
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Hot Springs - there are two sets of Hot Springs located within
about 45 minutes of Huaraz. The first springs called Monterrey
are within about 10 km of the center of Huaraz. These are close but are
not as recommended as the Chancos Hot Springs, 27km away from the
center of town. The Monterrey Hot Springs tend to be more public in
nature and due to their close proximity to Huaraz sometimes can be very crowded.
To get to the Chancos Hot Springs go to the main bus/collectivo station and take a collectivo
to the small town of Marcara. |
A collectivo is essentially a
van that leaves when it becomes full and because it usually fills up
with many people (standing room only), the price can be very cheap per
person. In this case from Huaraz to the town of Marcara the price should be several
soles. From Marcara its about 3km to the hot springs via taxi collectivo
and the price should be no more than 1 sole. Conversely, you can also
take a taxi directly to the Chancos Hot Springs but it will cost you at
least 30 soles - much more expensive than the collectivo option.
Once you arrive at Chancos Hot Springs you have to initially buy your
ticket for one of the Steam Caves. Don't expect fancy hot springs - they
are somewhat primitive looking. There will probably be a young boy who
offers to help show you around - if you use his services and are happy
with his services than you can consider tipping 1 sole. There are about
10 caves, all are at different temperatures. These are some of the
best steam baths we've ever used and they are 100% natural! Each cave is
private with a small changing room. If its not too crowded its easy to
stay inside one of the caves for upwards of an hour.
Should you decide to use one of their private hot water baths, you have
to pay an additional few soles and you will be shown to a private room.
Put the plunger on top of the drain and turn on the large faucet until
the bath is full. None of their private water baths are very hot
(typically topping out around 35C or 95F). They also have a few public
baths but again the water is not that hot.
Ishinca - see our
Ishinca Trek Page for more information
Lake Churup
The trek to Laguna Churup is a fantastic hike affording one excellent views.
It is located almost directly behind the city of Huaraz. You will want
to go to the main bus/collectivo station in Huaraz and take one of the
collectivos to a very small town call Llupac. At Llupa two roads fork
and you will want to take the upper road to the right. This leads up to
a small area called Pitec from which its still about 2 hours to the
lake. If you walk from the main town of Huaraz to Llupa, it will take
you between 90 and 120 minutes which is why we recommend taking the
collectivo to save time. A taxi to this point will cost you about 30
soles one way. The last collectivo to return to Huaraz typically leaves
from Llupa around 6pm.
The road is all dirt and the initial part of your hike will take you
past small villages and mud homes. Once you pass all the villages the
road will become more narrow and more of a trail. Chances are you will
at some point be walking with lambs, or bulls or dogs. The local Quechua
ladies often move livestock between villages using the main dirt road.
The following incident is very uncommon but we will mention it. At one
point I was walking along the trail when a horned bull charged me and
pinned me against the steep side of the trail for about 15 seconds. This
bull was very large and strong and had long curved horns which
fortunately went into my backpack as I had turned at the last minute.
Without my pack pack to protect me, things could have gotten quite gory.
Apparently this incident is not common at all and the locals couldn't
remember this ever happening to anyone. I mention it here, so you can be
aware of the bulls on the trail - try to keep them in front of you
rather than you walking right by them and be aware of animals sneaking
up from behind you.
If you are in good shape and already acclimatized to the altitude it
will take you between 3 to 3.5 hours from the small village of Llupa
where the collectivo drops you off, to the Lake Churup. If you are a
slow hiker and have some altitude problems allow much longer time than
that.
Lupine Bushes & other wildflowers along the hike - Ladder on vertical
section just before Lake Churup
Depending on the time of the year, once you climb higher than the
villages you may be hiking through a lot of greenery - including bush
lupines and other alpine flowers. When you reach the upper dirt road and
a small mountain hut and the red Huascaran park sign, you are about 40%
of the way to Lake Churup. This is a good resting place. From here on to
the lake you will be hiking up a small narrow steep trail. The trail
leads up right behind the main red park sign. Parts of this trail are
extremely steep and you may need to stop often for rest breaks.
About 40 minutes before Lake Churup you will reach a long steep
waterfall on the side of a steep cliff. There are two ways to hike up -
to the right of the waterfall is very steep and more dangerous and
involves more steep rocks and slippery slopes. To the left is also very
steep but slightly less dangerous. Both routes involve some almost
vertical sections - the left side has 1 or 2 ladders to help with the
vertical sections. You can climb the left side without ropes, but you
need to be very careful. Once you reach the top of the waterfall it is
merely a 10 minute hike to Lake Churup. This lake sits 4450 meters at
the base of Churup Mountain. There is actually another smaller lake (Lago
Churupita) 150 meters higher that you can hike to. Lake Churup is a
beautiful small glacier colored lake and if the weather is good, the
rocks above its shores are a good place to sit down and enjoy the
scenery and eat some lunch. Allow two hours for your return trip to the
village of Llupa.
Llangannco is an area high in the Andes which contains two
beautiful aqua marine small lakes. From Huaraz you will drive to the
small town of Yungay which is located north of Huaraz. From Yungay its
at least a 90 minute drive to the first lake on a dirt road. Compared to
some of the dirt roads in Peru this road is fairly well off and a car
could travel on it. Be sure to bring water and warm clothes as it can be
cold and windy at these lakes at any time of the year. There are great
views of the nearby high mountains including Peru's tallest mountain,
Huascaran.
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The 2nd lake is the smallest - there are no facilities there. If you
continue past the second lake higher up into the mountains you will have
great views of the snowcapped peaks and then also of the two lakes. When
you get far enough up this road and you look back at the two lakes -
they will appear very far in the distance way below you. Then if you
look even further into the distance you will see the valley from which
you originally drove up - from Yungay. The elevations are so extreme in
the Andes and the distances are so great.
Photo to left:
Llangannco |
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The first lake that you arrive at is the largest one - there is a trail
around part of the lake and makes for a good hike. There are great views
of the blue water through the queñuals, a tree in which the outside dark
brown bark always seems to be peeling. Expect the hike from one end of
this lake to the other to take about 45 minutes to an hour. There are
some short trails near this first lake. You can even go boating on this
lake - boats are available. Several vendors sell a limited supply of
bread, snacks and other drinks.
In 1970 a huge earthquake hit the Huaraz area killing many thousands of
people all |
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along this valley. A somber memorial to this
disaster is located just off of the main road north of Huaraz.
Pastoruri Ice Climbing
The main glacier on the slopes of Pastoruri
mountain is located slightly above 5000 meters. Because of its extreme
altitude you should be well acclimatized before you attempt any ice
climbing here. Many of the local tour agencies in Huaraz will offer day
trips to this location usually leaving around 7am and returning around 6
to 7pm. It takes about 2.5 hours by car from Huaraz to the dirt parking
lot where you will hike another 30 to 40 minutes to the actual glacier.
There are mules available for rent to carry you about 1/2 way to the
glacier - but you will have to walk the final distance as there isn't
really a trail. The glacier walls are quite steep, vertical in places
with overhangs in other places. It is a great place for beginners to try
ice climbing under the supervision of guides. Typically if you go with
an agency, they will carry all the ice climbing equipment and ropes for
you - and will set it up for you once they reach the glacier. A normal
days outing allows you up to 2 hours at the glacier and you may be able
to climb the glacier walls more than once if time permits.
There are often small ice caves within the glacier with long icicles
dripping down - sometimes you can go in with the guide, but other times
its too dangerous. A "glacier" lake is usually found near the glacier
walls and this is reminiscent of the Arctic with all the ice flows and
its frozen surface.
On your to the glacier you will pass by the
stately looking Puya de
Raimondi, a tall spiky mountain Bromeliad plant that blooms once every
80 to 100 years and then dies. There are some good photo ops here as
these plants tend to grow next to each other. Note there is a park
entrance fee - at press time it was 25 soles per person.
Trek 69 (all
photos below were taken by Lenino Romero)
This trek is one of the most scenic short day
treks in all of the Cordillera Blanca. If you are on a limited schedule
and want to experience the most beauty packed into a single day, then
this is the trek for you! The start of the trek is about 3 hours from
Huaraz. Typcially you will want to leave Huaraz on a collectivo around
6am. The cheapest way to get here is to go to the main bus/collectivo
station in Huaraz and take a collectivo to the small town of Yungay
(this town also mentioned above in our description of the Llangannco
region. For reference a collectivo is a shared van or vehicle to a
particular location. The prices are often very good as you are sharing
the ride with other passengers.
From
Yungay you will take another collectivo to an area called
Cebollapama just past the two Llangannco Lakes. Allow at least
90 minutes for this part of the drive up into the mountains on a
narrow windy dirt road.
The trail is well defined to Lake 69 - one note though - at the
beginning of your hike be sure not to take the trail to the left
to Pisco which joins the main Lake 69 trail after you cross a
small bridge. Expect the hike to Lake 69 to take between 3 and 4
hours. Allow 2 hours for the return trip.
If you have 2 days and can camp, we recommend camping one night
about an hour before Lake 69 near the Cascada Waterfalls - as
this way (weather permitting) you will be able to see sun kiss
the tops of the jagged Andes when it comes up in the morning.
If you are spending 1 day only then make the most of it and
spend some time at Lake 69. This is one of the most beautiful
glacier colored lakes that we have seen in all the world. On a
clear day you can look straight through its waters to the rocks
below and the sunlight dances on the water with all types of
blues, greens and aquamarines. The views behind the lake are
spectacular with the rugged glacier covered slopes and if in
season, a long waterfall cascading down the rocks. If you
thought the nearby Llangannco lakes were spectacular just wait
until you see this lake!
Photo to right: The clear water of Lake 69 |
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