Day Hikes in Huaraz
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We got to Huaraz with the intentions of doing 1-2 day hikes, and either the 4 day Santa Cruz trek or 8 day Huayhuash trek.
We started with the day hike to Laguna Churup to get us back into the swing of things and for acclimatisation. We caught a collectivo from here which was S/20 per person and left once full. The van ride was about 45 minutes and we started hiking about 9am.
With a decent 30+ minute lunch break at the top we still got back to the start of the trail around 2pm where the collective was waiting. We had intentions to hike further up to Laguna Churupita but we realised we’d rather save the energy and have a more relaxed lunch break. This was our only really sunny day the whole time, and Lucas used it to his advantage taking a dip in the lake. We enjoyed Nutella and banana buns on the lakefront after this.
This hike was personally my favourite of all the hikes we did in the area. It probably helped it was sunny.
Next we set off on an overnighter excursion which two sets of my friends had done on their travels, however, it wasn’t until after we had done it I realised they had both done it in the dry season. The idea of the hike was to walk up to Refugio Peru to camp for the night, and then continue on to Laguna 69 in the morning (arriving before the tour groups), and then hike back down the Laguna 69 track to the trail head.
To get to the trail head was a mission. We eventually got on a van collectivo to Yungay from this point which cost us S/8 each. They are running all day long and the operators will yell out to you to get in. Once in Yungay we got approached by another collectivo driver asking if we wanted to go to Laguna 69 trail head. It was going to be S/90 since it was a 1.5 hour drive, so we waited for one more person to come along going to the same area which brought the cost down.
Once there we did the gruelling hike up to Refugio Peru, and as per our luck with hiking in Peru, it started raining 5 minutes before we needed to set up our tent. We got the tent up and it proceeded to rain/snow the rest of the afternoon and evening. We went to bed with very low spirits as we had to spend the afternoon cold and huddled in an overhanging rock shelter. I was also feeling a bit ill from the altitude which meant I barely slept that night.
We woke up in the morning extremely tired and still low spirits, and when the sun did not proceed to come out (stuck behind thick rain clouds) we decided to call it a day and just hike back down the way we had come up. A bit disappointing not making it to Laguna 69 considering it was the whole reason we went there, but sometimes things just aren’t meant to be.
We waited about an hour or so for a collectivo to go past but ended up just jumping in with a couple driving avocados back to Huaraz. They stopped twice on the trip back, once at a strawberry farm to buy some of their produce, and once in Yungay to buy some avocados off a local. The truck was filled to the brim with crates of avocados and strawberries by the time we got back to Huaraz. They were going to take the produce to Lima and sell it for a higher price.
After this “failed” hike we made the call we wouldn’t go ahead with either Huayhuash or Santa Cruz. We were over hiking and setting up the tent in rain and snow and realised we’d be able to use the time wisely in Ecuador and Colombia. We didn’t call it quits completely though as we settled on two more day hikes (who cares if it rains a little on a day hike right).
After a day of rest in Huaraz we set out for Laguna 513. This was quite a big day but well worth it to see the laguna. We caught a collective to Carhuaz from here which cost us S/5 each. We then hired a collectivo driver for the day who drove us up to the trail head and waited for us to finish the hike before driving us back. We negotiated S/180 if we returned before 2.30pm, and S/200 if we returned after 2.30pm. We got back at 2.15pm haha!!
This hike took us just under 6 hours with a 30+ minute lunch break at the top. We had the whole lake to ourselves which was cool, only passing two groups of people on the way down.
Our final hike in Huaraz, and by far the easiest, was Laguna Llaca. We wanted to keep this one as easy as possible so went with AndesPeru tour company who we paid S/50 to pick us up from our hostel and drop us and wait for us at the trail head. Upon arriving at the trail head there were policemen saying that there had been a landslide the night before, taking out the road up to the laguna. They said attempt the track at own risk. All of this was in Spanish so we got it translated by the Dutch person next to us.
Our easiest hike definitely didn’t come without its challenges. The landslide was a lot bigger than we expected, and we had to even climb down it from half way up on the way up. On the way back we hiked on the other side of the river (not on an actual track). So yeah not the most straight forward, but it still only took us about 4 hours with a 30 minute lunch break at the top. Apparently the landslide had happened at 2am the night before so we have great timing haha. I can’t imagine that road ever being in use again now unfortunately.
That evening we actually went out for our favourite meal of our time in Huaraz which was a lovely way to end. It was called Wayta - El Chef Andino and served delicious Peruvian food, and for the best value. We also ordered morada sours which this cocktail was my favourite cocktail of the whole trip! It was like a classic pisco sour, but used the purple corn, like in a chicha morada drink (unfortunately I didn’t get a photo).
Huaraz is just as naturally beautiful as everyone says! There is an endless amount of mountains, glaciers and lagunas to be explored, we only visited a small fraction of them. You could easily spend up to a month there hiking around.
We are well and truly ready for the beach now though, with our next stops being Chicama and Mancora. A la playa!!
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