Imagine walking through pristine valleys surrounded by 20,000 foot (6000m) snow capped peaks and soaring Andean condors. Cascading waterfalls adorn both sides of the valley walls. Glacial lakes and streams guide you through soft green meadows while colorful flowers, bright red quenoa trees, and high altitude cactus accompany you every step of the way. THIS is the Santa Cruz Trek; a 4 day-3 night hike through Peru's Cordillera Blanca or White Corridor. The Cordillera Blanca mountain range is the second highest in the world after the Himalayas in Asia and offers amazing scenery to anyone willing to take on the terrain. This trek is relatively easy if you're acclimatized to the altitude (which we weren't) and it's difficult to get lost (which we did). How you get lost in a valley when there's no where else to go but follow the trail is beyond me but that's what we did. So we had to camp for an extra night extending our trek to 5 days and 4 nights. The Santa Cruz Trek is one of the most popular routes in the area and if you have the right gear then you can do this without hiring guides and donkeys.

Once again, my trekking partner and frequent visitor seen many times on this blog is my buddy Doug from back home in Pennsylvania. Doug just wants to live like I do all the time but since he has kids, a mortgage, a job thingy, and runs in the giant hamster wheel of life most of the time, he is forced to make only occasional blog appearances to wherever I am on the planet. But good for him though that he is getting out and living life!

After speaking to a few shop owners in Huaraz where we rented tents and sleeping bags, etc. we decided to do the trek in the reverse of the traditional direction. By starting in the little village of Vaqueria, it removes about 3000 feet of elevation gain which is helpful when you aren't acclimitized to the altitude. And once over the high mountain pass at Punta Union, it's a pleasant two day walk down hill to finish in Cashapampa.


Day 1: November 13
Huaraz to Vaqueria on a bus (4 hours)
Hike: Vaqueria to Paria - guessing about 6 miles (9.7 kms)
Altitude: 12,697 feet (3870m)
We left Huaraz bright and early in a piece of **** combi (it's like a mini-van) to take us to the little village of Vaqueria where we can access Huascaran National Park. This kind of makes for a late start on the actual trail but we had few other options. Going this direction, we wanted to get as far into the Llanganuco valley as possible to make the next day's planned crossing of the Punta Union pass as short a day as possible. We are not used to the altitude and we need to look for any way possible to gain an advantage in the distances we trek each day.
This valley is one of the most pleasant places you can walk. It's like a mostly flat, soft carpet of green with fantastic mountain scenery in all directions. So far so good on day one.


Day 2: November 14
Hike: Paria to a campsite below Punta Union Pass
Altitude: ~13,950 feet (4252m)
Today was the day we were supposed to go up and over the pass and drop into the Santa Cruz Valley on the other side. But that didn't happen because we sort of got lost by missing a rather important trail. Well, to be more specific, we missed THE trail! We found ourselves so far into the valley that we actually ran out of trail to follow. So using our maps to the best of our knowledge we started heading up the mountain following animal trails and anything that remotely resembled a walk-able path. In the end, we spent so much time and energy climbing and navigating this section that when we finally found the real trail again it was the end of the day and the end of our endurance. Going any further would have been dangerous and pointless. Our mistake just added an extra day to our trek but we are carrying plenty of food so it's no big deal. We found a nice campsite next to a mountain lake and settled in for the cold, high altitude night. The advantage we gained is that the pass is now just a few hundred yards above us and we will most likely be the first people of the day to cross over tomorrow.


Day 3: November 15
Hike: Up and over Punta Union Pass and down into the Santa Cruz Valley
Altitude: Max altitude 15,584 feet (4750 meters)
We got pretty battered by an overnight storm and woke up to a light layer of snow and ice. Our rented tent held up well though so we were pretty pleased with that. When you're on the trail it's the little things that matter most! After breakfast and the mandatory doses of coffee, we packed up our gear and started climbing ... up, up, up. After an hour or so, and as we suspected, we made the first boot prints in the snow at Punta Union Pass which is little more than a six foot wide, natural doorway in the rock formation. From here it's all down hill!
On our way to the next campsite, we discovered something that our out of date guidebooks failed to mention. In March 2012, heavy rains caused a MASSIVE landslide in this valley. Amazingly no one was killed but had anyone been on the trail that day, they never would have survived. The Santa Cruz valley is completely different now as the trees, original flow of the river, and campsites just don't exist anymore. The valley was filled in with mud and rocks for miles, forever changing the landscape here and also making it more difficult to find a proper camp ground.

Day 4: November 16
We are long passed the landslide area now and the lower elevation has brought back the diversity in plant life and greenery. Now it's all about the scenery again and just enjoying the act of walking. We found the coolest little campsite away from the big groups and next to the river and we even had a sunset since the clouds finally lifted. Tomorrow we exit the valley and head back to Huaraz where there is beer!

Day 5: November 17
Early on day 5, we arrived in Cashapampa, a simple village inhabited by simple people, where we could get a taxi to the bus station and get back to Huaraz for hot showers and cold beer.

Hike: the total distance is 27.8 miles or 45 kms but we did a little bit more than that thanks to the extra tour of the Llanganuco valley we gave ourselves on day 2. This trek packs in a lot of natural beauty and adventure in a short distance and is certainly one of the nicest places I've ever "gone for a walk".
Finish Altitude: 9,514 feet (2900 meters)