Danny and I have left Brisbane, Australia and the Australian experience couldn't have been complete without visiting the Great Barrier Reef. The reef is exactly how I imagined it. Vast amounts of colorful coral and the most sea life I have ever seen snorkeling. We also visited Cape Tribulation, Daintree National Park and Port Douglas and saw the most amazing views of the Queensland coast.
After leaving Australia, we had a quick stop over in San Diego and Lima and finally made it to Huaraz, Peru. Huaraz is situated at 3050 meters and is the 2nd largest city in the Peruvian Andes. With less than one week to acclimate to the altitude, Danny, Andrea, Nate and I decided to take on a 3 day trek beginning at the Q. Quilcuyhuanca valley. The elevation at the entrance of the Huascaran National Park is 3600 meters. The first day of trekking took us deep into the valley, 13km in and we camped at the bottom of the summit pass. The campsite rested at the bottom of a glacial lake at 4200 meters. The following day took us up to the summit pass with an elevation gain of 1000 meters over 6km. The views throughout the hike were the most beautiful I have ever seen; the snow covered mountains, the lakes and the waterfalls, the glacier were all magnificent. I have never seen snow so white and mountains so grandeur.
We literally had to find trails with vague trail markers, scale up a rock slide, fight off bulls from attacking us while we ate lunch, jump through spongy marshes avoiding getting our feet soaked in cold muddy water and traverse the side of a snow covered mountain. Fear and panic set in at 5000 meters where my ears were popping, I was gasping for air every 5 steps and the idea that reaching the camp by sundown became a far off concept. We obviously reached the summit, crawled down the mountainside, found a 'safe' campsite and 'slept' through temperatures below 0 degrees Celsius while bulls were fighting and moo-ing less than 100 feet from where our tents were pitched. The following day's hike was pretty chillax, exiting through Cojup Valley. We were actually warm, had a nice relaxing lunch by the creek and took mini-naps while soaking up the sun.
With Nate's survivor man skills, Danny's GPS skills along with mine and Andrea's tears and prayers we made it home safely. Even though there were tears, panic, fear, frustration, hunger and dehydration...the beauty that we got to see at 5100 meters (approximately 16,700 feet) was well worth it.
After leaving Australia, we had a quick stop over in San Diego and Lima and finally made it to Huaraz, Peru. Huaraz is situated at 3050 meters and is the 2nd largest city in the Peruvian Andes. With less than one week to acclimate to the altitude, Danny, Andrea, Nate and I decided to take on a 3 day trek beginning at the Q. Quilcuyhuanca valley. The elevation at the entrance of the Huascaran National Park is 3600 meters. The first day of trekking took us deep into the valley, 13km in and we camped at the bottom of the summit pass. The campsite rested at the bottom of a glacial lake at 4200 meters. The following day took us up to the summit pass with an elevation gain of 1000 meters over 6km. The views throughout the hike were the most beautiful I have ever seen; the snow covered mountains, the lakes and the waterfalls, the glacier were all magnificent. I have never seen snow so white and mountains so grandeur.
We literally had to find trails with vague trail markers, scale up a rock slide, fight off bulls from attacking us while we ate lunch, jump through spongy marshes avoiding getting our feet soaked in cold muddy water and traverse the side of a snow covered mountain. Fear and panic set in at 5000 meters where my ears were popping, I was gasping for air every 5 steps and the idea that reaching the camp by sundown became a far off concept. We obviously reached the summit, crawled down the mountainside, found a 'safe' campsite and 'slept' through temperatures below 0 degrees Celsius while bulls were fighting and moo-ing less than 100 feet from where our tents were pitched. The following day's hike was pretty chillax, exiting through Cojup Valley. We were actually warm, had a nice relaxing lunch by the creek and took mini-naps while soaking up the sun.
With Nate's survivor man skills, Danny's GPS skills along with mine and Andrea's tears and prayers we made it home safely. Even though there were tears, panic, fear, frustration, hunger and dehydration...the beauty that we got to see at 5100 meters (approximately 16,700 feet) was well worth it.
