Lake 69 & Santa Cruz Classic Trek

We start our journey at 7:30am from your accommodation and begin our drive along the Callejon de Huaylas Valley, today we are going to drive to the north of Huaraz passing the cities of Carhuaz and Yungay and then through some Andean farming villages and entering into the Huascaran National Park. It takes 3 hours to get to the trailhead at Cebollapampa at 3900m. We start our hike on a well-formed path. We have a gently hike for one hour following Demanda Valley then climb on a zig zag track for about 40 minutes to Chaquicocha saddle which opens a big flat valley and from here we can see the moraine wall that holds Laguna 69 lake. We can feel the effects of the altitude at this point and for this reason the mother nature has created this flat pampa to give us the time to catch our breath and have a gently walk for 30 minutes to the bottom of the moraine wall before facing our final 40 minutes climb on a zig zag steep path to our final destination Laguna 69 Lake at 4604m, a beautiful lake of the most brilliant blue colour. The lake is surrounded by the mountains Chacrarju and Pisco which leave reflections on the lake. On the return walk we look directly towards the mountains Huascaran being the highest tropical mountain in the world, Chopicalqui and Yanapaccha. Our Campsite is at Yuraccorral 3880m. 6 hours walk.

After a good breakfast, we pack up all our camping gear and begin the journey with a spectacular scenic drive up and over Portachuelo de Llanganuco Pass 4785m and then down to Vaqueria (3700m) which is the starting point of the trek 2 hours drive. There are opportunities for photo stops along the way. From Vaqueria our equipment is loaded onto the donkeys and we have a 5 hours hike on a gradually rising path to our campsite in the Paria Valley 3890m. Today we will have the opportunity to see local shepherds and farmers working on the fields using traditional methods.

Today is a demanding day. We ascend gradually for about 4 hours and then we make a steep ascend for one hour to the pass Punta Union at 4750m. From the pass, we have very close views of the big mountains of the Cordillera Blanca Mountain Range such as Nevado Taulliraju, Pucajirca, Rinrijirca, Artesonraju and many others and fantastic views down into the Santa Cruz Valley. From the pass, we descend to our camp at Taullipampa 4250m. 7 to 8 hours walk.

Today we can do a side trip up to a viewpoint in the Quebrada Arhuaycocha valley, from where there are great views of Nevado Alpamayo, Quitaraju and Artesonraju mountains. We then have a long descend along the Santa Cruz valley passing a big lake to our last campsite at Llamacorral 3750m. 6 to 7 hours hike.

We walk down Quebrada Santa Cruz Valley to the village of Cashapampa at 2900m and then drive back to Huaraz. 3 hours walk and 3 hours drive.