Cañon de Colca: Hiking Day 1

We left off at lunch as the groups separated. We changed into shorts, slathered on the sunscreen, and were ready to hit the trail!  Our guide, Jean Carlos, was young and fit and had been working as a guide for over a year. We walked along one road away from the town square, and as the road petered out we veered off along a trail toward the canyon.

Here is JP followed Jean Carlos (JC!) near the beginning of our hike. From this point we could see down to the river bed and a rough outline of the trail we would follow.

In the picture above, you can see the river down in the bottom of the canyon. We were headed there and then going to follow the river toward the top of the photo, to the hostel where we would stay the night. Because we would have shelter, a bed, and a meal, we didn't have to carry too much, mostly clothes and lots of water. 

The first part of the hike was pretty flat, and we could stop and enjoy more of the terrace farms close up and the local wildlife:

 

We were feeling pretty good so far--it was a beautiful day, sunny with blue skies, warm but not hot, and our hike was off to a great start:

Then, the trail turned and we started descending into the canyon. I looked down and saw a bunch of switchbacks, but thought there must be some flat parts of the trail in between to spread them out. However, I was incorrect.  We did about an hour of steep switchbacks and lost quite a bit of altitude quickly.  So far my legs felt fine, and we took a break here near this bridge:

We ate some bananas and bread and continued on.  The afternoon had gotten hotter and the shade was a welcome relief, along with a breeze. 

The path stayed in the shade a little longer and stayed straight along the side of this mountain. JP and I both felt our legs relax with the break from the all-downhill-all-the-time path we had been on, and felt better.  We rounded the curve in the mountain above and then started descending again. This next picture shows how much closer to the river we were growing.

Our switchbacks continued their steep descent, and we just kept moving, although I was beginning to feel the burn in my calves. Eventually, after about 3 hours of mostly downhill hiking, we reached the bridge across the River Colca:

In the foreground, closer to JP, is the footbridge we crossed. Behind it, the arched orange metal structure is a second bridge that is under construction.  They are planning to build a road from one side of the canyon to the other that would include this orange bridge as a way to cross the river. This seems like a very bad idea, but according to our guide it has been under construction for some time, even though the road right now is narrow and windy and hugs the cliffs at several places. It also doesn't seem like there is much to connect to on the other side of the canyon, but there are a few isolated villages who would grow much less isolated if and when the road is actually finished.

After we crossed the bridge I had thought that the trail would be straight and flat as we followed the river up to our hostel for the night. However, I was wrong! We started going up, which JP said he thought was a welcome change but my legs were not happy about it either way.  We kept going, and passed prickly pear cactus farms like this:

At this point I was tired, and tired of taking pictures, but we kept walking. After a while we stopped climbing and started descending again. Eventually our guide pointed this out:

The trail you can see leading from the lower right of the photo to the center ended at our hostel, in Huallar--it is a group of tin roofs you may only be able to see if you click on the photo to get the larger version.  With the end in sight, I rallied and was so happy to see this bridge:

Even though we had to descend yet again to get to it, once we crossed it was literally steps to the hostel, and I was ready to stop walking!  This bridge crosses a different river that runs from a waterfall upstream and meets the River Colca, so when we finally reached the hostel, we could see these views:

It was a beautiful sight, almost as nice as seeing our bungalow:

That blue spot inside the door is me lying down on the bed, happy to be done with the 4 hour hike.  I swore not to get up until the next morning, but eventually JP convinced me to get up and walk (downhill again!) to the thermal baths that were next to the river. They were really more lukewarm than thermal, but they helped me rally and were a passable substitute for a shower. We had a nice meal prepared by the hostel staff, chatted with a few other hikers who were there, and then collapsed in bed for good!

Next up: Day 2