Day 6 - Hiking Day 3
Saturday, September 27
Don’t look down!
Collpapampa (9,842 ft.) → La Playa (6,716 ft.)
Hiking Mileage: 11.4 miles
Elevation Loss: 3,126 ft.
Highest Elevation: 9,842 ft.
Trekking Time: 6.25 hours
5:30 Wake up to clear skies and a delicious breakfast (of course)!
Today’s hike was long and mostly down, and we’re all pretty sore from yesterday. We began on a dirt road for a short time and then up into the hills to the winding trails. Pretty soon we crossed a river on a narrow bridge to the other side of the canyon/valley.
For those in our group who are sensitive to heights, there was bravery to be had as the narrow trail then wound along the mountainside with a steep drop off on one side and the mountain “wall” on the other! Truly a trail not for the faint of heart!
After about 5 miles, we crossed a bridge to the other side of the river, up a steep zig-zag trail back to the dirt road again. The actual trail was still open, but there have been recent landslides that made the trail super narrow and in some places non-existent (where trekkers had to scramble across the rock debris). We were grateful to Vlad for choosing safety over adventure!
We walked on the road for the rest of the day, stopping at a little village with a park-like area where we had a snack and a brief rest before continuing on. The scenery through it all was breath-taking!
And we saw some beautiful flowers along the way!
Snack time!
After snack it was back to the road…. all in all we walked more than 3 miles on the dirt road, mostly going down. And it was difficult going! There were plenty of times when I was worried that “my brakes were going to give out” with no “runaway truck ramp” in sight!
Are we there yet?
Needless to say, when we got to our campsite at 1:40…. I’ll say that another way…. we hiked 11.4 miles BEFORE LUNCH… we were exhausted!
Camp is in the yard of a man who runs a coffee plantation and a hostel where we have use of a bathroom, kitchen, and covered dining area. After we dropped our bags lunch was served. (not pictured: soup, chicken, fruit, cooked bananas)
Then we nested and rested until 4:00 when we had a tour of the coffee plantation and demonstration of the coffee making process, from picking to pouring! Needless to say, we bought a few pounds to bring home.
Dinner: Soup, Salads, Beef and potatoes. And it was Pete and Kelli’s anniversary! So having learned this at breakfast, our amazing chef, Santos, procured the ingredients and pan to make a lovely sponge cake for them as a surprise! What a delightful and delicious end to a long and difficult day.
It began to rain as we finished dinner so we hurried to our tents. Tomorrow is our last day on the trail and an EARLY wake up.