The Santa Cruz Trek

South America 2004 » Peru » The Cordillera Blanca » The Santa Cruz Trek

We spent 4 days walking the famous Santa Cruz trek, through the Huascarán national park from Vaquería to Cashapampa. We hired a guide, Scheler, for the trip, who doubled as our cook. We decided against hiring a burro (mule), so carried everything ourselves - including the heavy tent we rented.

We left Huaraz on a bus, and, after a few hours, entered the park, climbing past beautiful lakes, over the snowline at the high Portachuelo de Llaganuco pass, to the tiny hamlet of Vaquería (3700m), where the trek starts.

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Huaraz01 Toni and Scheler (our guide) taking a rest on day 1 of the trek.

Huaraz02 View of our route through the Cordillera Blanca.

Huaraz03 Some children we met on the first day of the trek. They were working as goatherds in the Huaripampa valley. There is no school in the area. Some children go to a boarding school run by a religous order in Caraz (the nearest town of any size).

Huaraz04 Eoin before departing our camp site beside the river on the morning of day 2. Day 2 was the hardest day of the trek, as we had to climb to the 4,750m high Punta Unión pass.

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