A Walk In The…Mountains
Happy New Year Everyone!
Since this trek very likely would not have happened without them, the first thing we want to do is thank our great friends Scott and Kathryn (And Scott Joly) for highly recommending the Huayhuash Trek to us five years ago! I am not sure we would have been willing to spend the money (budget travelers that we are) for this guided tour without their enthusiastic tales of the trail. Thank you so much!
In order to make the hike as economical as possible we waited around the city of Huaraz for more than a week before leaving on our group trek. The price to do it privately is three times as much! Way outside our budget; so, we had to roll the dice and pray that the group we joined would be a good one (spoiler alert: they were fantastic:). Our group consisted of travelers from England, Canada, France, Germany and Spain, as well as, our Peruvian guides, an emergency horse and our heroic pack mules. I call them heroic because they were the ones who carried the majority of our gear each day!
The Huayhuash Trek is considered one of the most beautiful high alpine hiking routes in the world. Just look at the pictures and you will see why. We had seven nights on the trail and covered a distance of approximately 85 miles. The entire trail is high altitude, but the highest pass we crossed was 17,000 feet! The highest (outside of an airplane) either of has ever been! Some of the peaks we saw along the route were greater than 21,000 feet. We were super thankful that we took so much time to acclimate to the altitude, it helped a lot. Don’t get me wrong though, we were huffing and puffing like steam trains to reach the top of the passes! Sharon was very concerned about the altitude triggering migraines, but glory to God that was not the case! Sharon’s head did incredibly well when you take into account the altitude and the level of exertion required each day. It really was a miracle.
The first five days we hiked through rain, hail and snow, however, the last two days the skies cleared and the views became truly glorious. At one particularly breathtaking viewpoint a hiking companion broke out in spontaneous song, a hymn declaring the beauty of God’s creation as…a beauty that we could see all around us so clearly. It was very special and utterly unforgettable. Overall, the hike was left us utterly exhausted and simultaneously completely thrilled for such an amazing experience.
Words can’t do it justice, so, I won’t even try. Enjoy the pictures!
p.s. – The small animal is a chinchilla!
