Archive for the ‘Hikes’ Category

Colca Canyon, Part 6–Dawn on the rim

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

What can I say that’s new about hiking almost 4,000 feet up and out of a canyon?

We started up just before 4 a.m.  with Omar setting a nice slow pace that I could easily match.  (I’m much better at going up than down.  I take after the turtle racing the hare, slow and steady.  That way one doesn’t have to stop and catch one’s breath all the time.)  With my headlamp focused on Omar’s feet just a few paces ahead, I didn’t have to worry about falling down the side of the cliff, and I wasn’t psyched out about just how far we had to go up.  Unlike my hike out of the Grand Canyon though where I had all day, the bus was going to pick us up at 9 a.m., and we needed to eat breakfast in Cabanaconde before it arrived.  Remember, it took me 3 1/2 hours to get down.

First light, about half-way up

First light, about half-way up (5:53 a.m.)

It started to get light about 5:30 and by 6, we were half-way up, and Omar let me take a break to eat a mandarin and trail mix.  I was enjoying the hike.  In the dark, one pays more attention to the sounds and smells, and, temperature-wise, it was very pleasant.

The sun is up!

The sun is up! (6:20 a.m.)

Within a half hour, the first rays hit the tops of the mountains.  The picture just doesn’t capture the moment; it was spectacular.  Of course, I knew the temperature was about to climb, and I still had more than a 1000 feet to go.

It's 7:10 with another hour to go

It's 7:10 with another hour to go

There were now other people on the trail.  Children heading up to school; men with donkeys laden with supplies heading down.

I made it to the top! (7:52 a.m.)

I made it to the top! (7:52 a.m.)

Unlike the Grand Canyon where as one nears the rim one has a good sense of where the top is, it’s not the same when climbing out of Colca Canyon.  There are peaks all around you.  The sky doesn’t seem to expand and suck you up to the top.

Just 15 minutes from the top of the Grand Canyon

Just 15 minutes from the top of the Grand Canyon and the end is clearly in sight

At Colca Canyon, you seem to just arrive at another ledge and wonder if you really have made it and your guide is just giving you another pep talk so you can forge onward and upward.

It took me four hours to climb out of the canyon, and it was almost another half hour back into Cabanaconde.  We finished breakfast well before the bus arrived to pick us up.

My summary of the trek:  a great experience, down was more difficult than I expected, up was easier.  I’m glad I did it.  Would I do it again?  Sure, but I would take one of the longer treks that goes through villages inside the canyon and make sure most of my hiking was in the cooler parts of the day.  On the other hand, I yearn to return to the Grand Canyon even though it is a much, much harder hike; I don’t have that kind of feeling about Colca Canyon.

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Colca Canyon, Part 5–the Oasis of Paraiso

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Paraiso Las Palmeras Lodge in Colca Canyon

Omar was an excellent judge of his client’s capabilities.  He gave me a bottle of water and told me to go lay down (in the shade) for an hour.

My hut was the one behind the palm
My hut was the one behind the palm

We were staying at one of three “hotels” in the Paraiso complex.  If I understood Omar correctly, the original owner of this plot of land divided his land among his three sons.  Each runs his “hotel” independently.  At this one, the huts are new.  The walls are of bamboo, and the spaces between the poles allow for air movement and eavesdropping (if you want to listen in on your neighbors’ conversations.)

I never understood where the boundaries were among the different brothers’ hotels, but I’m glad I wasn’t staying in one of these.
The concrete block

The concrete block

The adobes with no windows

The adobes with no windows

At least these huts have windows

At least these huts have windows

There is no electricity or telephone at the oasis.  Guides usually bring foodstuffs and then cook meals for their clients in the communal kitchen, although the two men in the hut next to mine walked down with no intention of spending the night.  They didn’t even have toothbrushes, much less food.  Someone on the staff fixed spaghetti for them, so it was possible to buy a meal.  It was also possible to buy beer.  (Remember that mule with the side paniers?)

The kitchen and dining area

The kitchen and dining area

While I rested and cooled off, Omar fixed a lunch of vegetable soup, chicken, alpaca, potatoes, broccoli, mixed vegetables, and avocado, with a mandarin for dessert.  I had more vegetables in that meal than I had in all the other meals on my trip! 
After we ate, we sat a long time in the dining area talking about geology, the Inca religion, and the nuances of the English language.  How would you explain the differences in meaning between pebbles, rocks, boulders, and stones to a non-native English speaker?  What is the difference between a canyon and a gorge?  And what if you add chasm and glen to the mix?
After the sun had disappeared behind the rim of the canyon, I went for a “swim.”  There were, in fact, two pools–this one, which was part of my hotel, and the more obvious one visible in my photos of the complex that I included in my last post.  The other was empty, and when I walked by later on, the owner was scrubbing the bottom with a broom.
How did they ever build this?

How did they ever build this?

The water was frigid.  It was also very deep.  So after a few strokes, I headed back to the steps, where I sat and talked to another woman who also wasn’t keen on swimming in cold, deep water.
Then it was time for a shower.  A cold shower.  The shower was at one end of the building that also housed two flush toilets.  There was no door, just a curtain.  Then again, the stalls didn’t have latches or locks.
The facilities

The facilities

Back in my hut, I faced the problem of how to put on my pants again without dragging them in the loose dirt floor.  (Remember these huts were fairly new.)  In the end, I fished out one of the garbage bags I always keep in my pack and used it as a floor mat. 

Each hut contained two beds constructed on site.  Since I was by myself, I used the second bed as a table, closet, etc.  Neither of the beds was level, but the sheets appeared clean, and there were several heavy wool blankets on the bed.  I asked Omar about how the sheets got washed and by whom, but I didn’t get an answer that made any sense to me. 

Redressed in clothes that would keep me warm now that the sun was no longer shining directly into the valley, I strolled around the complex.  I found out that my host was obviously doing well; he was adding more huts.

Oasis Paraiso--more huts under construction

Someone at one of the other hotels had planted a flower garden, and even though it was now the end of June, a few flowers were still blooming.

Flowers blooming at Paraiso in Colca Canyon

After Omar fixed a light supper (a cream soup with lots of veggies), we sat and talked with the father and son Brits who were staying in the hut next to mine.  Since they had come unprepared to spend the night, they needed our candlelight to eat their dinner!  By the time we added their perspectives on the linguistic subtleties of the English language to our earlier discussion, we’d wiled away several hours and were more than tired.

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Colca Canyon, Part 4–The trek down

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

I hiked into the canyon with a guide named Omar.  He turned out to be the best guide I had in Peru.  He was extremely well read on a variety of subjects; he was a birder; he was patient with my slow pace; he was a good storyteller; he was an excellent cook, etc. etc.

Omar

Omar

We set off from Cabanaconde about 9:45 a.m on a beautiful, cloudless day.  It took us less than a 1/2 hour to get from the village to the rim of the canyon.  Along the way we met both locals and tourists who had just climbed out of the canyon.  Some of the tourists had taken the easy way out–on the back of a donkey.

Not far from the rim, we saw a couple of Andean condors floating on the currents of air caused by the rising temperatures in the canyon.

An Andean condor soaring above Colca Canyon

An Andean condor soaring above Colca Canyon

The trail was so steep and rocky that I spent most of my time looking down at the trail and my feet.  When we came to steps (there were a lot, but not nearly as many as on the Inca Trail), I took my time and tried to use my trekking poles to reduce the impact on my knees.  Sometimes the steps were rocks that had been set in place; sometimes the steps were carved out of the rock.  All were uneven and of varying heights and depths.  It was very difficult to establish any sort of rhythm while walking.

The trail was on the south face of the canyon.  The sun was brutal.  I tried to drink lots of water, but it was hard to find a level place to stop and drink.  For me, the sun was the most difficult aspect of the trek.

About an hour into the descent, the trail rounded a bend and we could suddenly see into the depths of the canyon.  For the first time, I could see our destination.  It was almost directly below, and those squiggles between me and the swimming pool, that was the trail.  Like I said in the last post, whoever laid out this trail had no interest in using distance to moderate the gradient.

My first View of Paraiso

My First View of Paraiso

There were no expansive views like in the Grand Canyon where one can see for miles and miles until you get down into the Vishnu Schist, but the view was grand, nonetheless.

My first view down into the depths of the canyon

My first view down into the depths of the canyon

An hour and a half later, I was still looking down at the oasis which didn’t seem to be all that closer.

It's getting closer, but it's still far away

It's getting closer, but it's still far away

But amazingly, just twenty minutes later, it was within reach.
Finally

Finally

I reached Paraiso about 1:15 p.m.  It took me 3 1/2 hours with only a few brief rests to drink a Gatorade and eat a PowerBar and some trail mix.  Although I had drunk almost two liters of water, along with the Gatorade, I was very, very hot, and that pool looked very inviting.

Posted in Hikes, Journal Summer 2009, Peru | No Comments »

Colca Canyon, Part 3–The trail

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

When planning my trip, I had a difficult time finding details about this trek.  So this post is my attempt to help the next potential trekker decide if this walk is for them. 

In my last post, I discussed the elevation loss/gain in numerical terms.  But how do I put that into perspective?

First, there’s the physical trail itself.  It’s not a trail like you would find in a US national park.  It is not a path designed for recreation, for people who want to experience the natural wonders of a place and have no particular need to get from point A to point B.  Instead, it is a path developed over centuries by people wanting to get from their homes and farms inside the canyon to places outside the canyon. 

Children from these villages on the north side of the canyon had to walk down to the river and then up the trail I descended to get to school

Children from these villages on the north side of the canyon had to walk down to the river and then up the trail I descended to get to school

It is a well-used trail.  I met children on their way to school on the rim.  I met a husband and wife leading and prodding their animals loaded down with doors and lumber for a building project.

Highway transport into Colca Canyon

Highway transport into Colca Canyon

Sometimes the trail was so steep it seemed to disappear over the edge

Sometimes the trail was so steep it seemed to disappear over the edge

Constant use, especially by load-bearing animals, is hard on a trail. This trail was especially rocky.  Stretches of dirt tread were few and far between.

A path of rocks

A path of rocks

Trails need maintenance.  Grand Canyon National park has 415 miles of inner-canyon trails of which 42 miles are corridor trails.  Over a year, about 200,000 people use one of these trails to descend into the canyon.  In 2008, 9,600 went all the way down to the river and Phantom Ranch on a mule.  To maintain these trails, the National Park Service employs 30 people full time year round and another 60 part time or seasonally.  Its 2008 bare-bones trail maintenance budget was two million dollars.  I couldn’t find any details about the allocation of funds, but from some comments I found I gather that maintaining the toilets, supplying toilet paper, and cleaning up trash consume quite a bit of these funds.  Its backlog of true trail maintenance projects is such that some of the $10 million it received in ARRA funds are being used to rehabilitate the South Kaibab Trail.  In other words, trail maintenance to the level which we as Americans expect is expensive.

In September, 2006, the South Kaibab Trail didn't look much different

In September, 2006, parts of the South Kaibab Trail didn't look much different

Maintenance of the trails in Colca Canyon is rudimentary at best.  Of course, there are no toilets to worry about maintaining or keeping supplied with toilet paper, and there was surprisingly little trash along the route.

Now, what about the route?  Obviously, with a gradient of something close to 20%, it’s steep.  Very steep.  While the above photo of the South Kaibab Trail might make you think it is steep, it has long stretches of gradual elevation loss and lots and lots of long switchbacks.  The Inca and other early Andean peoples seem to have subscribed to the belief shorter is better; steps are the best.  On the Colca Canyon trail, there are no respites from the knee-pounding descent.

Zig-zags on the Colca Canyon Trail

Zig-zags on the Colca Canyon Trail

The trail zig-zags rather than switchbacks down into the canyon, much like the earliest version of the Bright Angel Trail into the Grand Canyon which had a short section with a 40% gradient.

 

The original zig-zags on the Bright Angel Trail, Grand Canyon

The original zig-zags on the Bright Angel Trail, Grand Canyon

In my next post, I’ll talk about the trek itself.

Posted in Arizona, General, Grand Canyon, Hikes, Journal Summer 2009, National Parks and Monuments, Peru | No Comments »

Colca Canyon, Part 2–Is it deeper than the Grand Canyon?

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

I went to the canyon because I wanted to hike to the bottom of a canyon reputed to be twice the depth of Arizona’s Grand Canyon.  Having just finished a book on the Grand Canyon after several years of research that included hiking down to Phantom Ranch, I couldn’t believe a trek to the bottom of a canyon twice as deep as the Grand Canyon could be accomplished in a couple of hours as all the guidebooks claimed.  It had taken our Grand Canyon Field Institute group over six hours to descend the 4800′ from the South Rim to Phantom Ranch via the South Kaibab Trail.  (For my trail journal of that hike, see Trails and Treasures’ South Kaibab Trail.)

 

Colca Canyon at the start of the trek

Colca Canyon at the start of the trek: Where's the bottom?

Colca Canyon is said to reach a maximum depth of 13,648′ on the north rim and 11,811′ on the south rim with the floor being 3,960′ below the rim on average.  (See the Colca Canyon official site.)  I started my trek into the canyon at Cabanaconde at an elevation of 10,780′ and went down to the oasis as Sangalle at 6900′, a descent of 3,880′.  I couldn’t find a trail distance in any of the guidebooks, and my guide just shrugged his shoulders.  Since I met young people with good knees who made it down in 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hrs, I’d guess three to four miles.

The following table compares the trail descents:

  Colca Canyon Grand Canyon
Rim elevation (in feet)

10,780

7,200
Destination elevation

6,900

2,420
Elevation difference

3,880

4,780
Hiking distance

4(?) miles 

7.1 miles

 Thus, there are several important statistical differences in these two treks:

  • the Colca Canyon trail is significantly steeper with an 18 to 21% gradient vs. a 14% gradient, and
  • the Colca Canyon trek is accomplished at significantly higher altitudes, but
  • the vertical descent into the Grand Canyon on the South Kaibab trail is significantly greater.

By comparing the views, one can see that the “rim” of Colca Canyon is far less obvious than that of the Grand Canyon.  There are mountains that rise up from the rim of Colca Canyon.  The Grand Canyon is in the middle of the Colorado Plateau.  The Grand Canyon is also much older than Colca Canyon.  Researchers estimate it began 17 million years ago.

The Grand Canyon: Where's the river?
The Grand Canyon: Where’s the river?

There are other differences too which I’ll talk about in my next post.  But, from my perspective as a hiker, the Grand Canyon is deeper.

 For a good discussion of canyons, see http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Canyon.  And, by the way, Colca Canyon is not the deepest canyon in the world; Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet is.

Posted in Grand Canyon, Hikes, Journal Summer 2009, Peru | No Comments »

Hiking in the San Gabriels and Mount San Jacinto

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

In preparation for hiking in Peru, I spent the last week hiking in the mountains to the east of Los Angeles.  My 82-year old uncle gamely came along to keep me company while I base-camped at Table Mountain (7500′, near Wrightwood) and Manker Flats (6200′, north of Claremont).  Several of the hikes took us up to and along the Pacific Crest Trail.  We averaged well over 1000′ of elevation gain as we climbed from Big Pines to Blue Ridge Campground, from Islip Saddle to Little Jimmy Campground, and from Dawson Saddle to Throop Peak.  The last of these started at 7,903′, the highest point on the Angeles Crest Highway.  We were very lucky to be able to do the latter two hikes as the road had been closed for over three years between Vincent Gap and Islip Saddle; it re-opened just a few weeks ago.

View from the PCT near Blue Ridge Campground

Looking Down from Near Throop Peak into the Los Angeles BasinHeading Up from Islip Saddle

Manker Flats Campground is at the base of Mount San Antonio, locally known as Old Baldy and the highest point in Los Angeles County.  We only hiked to the ski hut at 8200′, a steady trudge up the fire road shown in the photo below.

The Easy Trail up to Mt Baldy Ski Lodge

The next day we took it easy and hiked just a couple of miles up Icehouse Canyon to the Cucamonga Wilderness boundary.   This trail differed dramatically from the one up Mt. Baldy–the rocky footpath  followed a stream up a verdant valley where a flood had wiped out many of the original cabins leaving all sorts of ruins to explore.

Cabin Ruins in Icehouse Canyon

After five nights of no showers (or shaving for Harry), we headed for a motel in downtown Palm Springs.  We left the foggy, chilly nights around a campfire for the warm desert breezes and patio dining after a couple of hours sipping beers by the pool.

The next morning we joined about 30 other hikers catching the first tramup to Mt. San Jacinto State Park.   From the tram station, it’s a 10-11 mile roundtrip hike to the peak with an elevation gain of 2300′.  Harry did quite well, making it to Wellman Divide where he sat and rested for three hours while I continued on to the peak.

The StartThe SummitAnother Mile to Go

Posted in California, General, Hikes, Journal Summer 2009 | No Comments »

Flagstaff Route 66 Volksmarch

Monday, June 1st, 2009

Southside Garden WhimsyThe Tucson Volkssport Klub sponsors three year round walks in Flagstaff.  The “Route 66″ 10k traverses the campus of Northern Arizona University, areas of the downtown historic district, and a not-very-interesting stretch of Route 66.  Along the way one can hunt for several geocaches (I only found 1 of the 2 I looked for), visit the train station-visitor center, lunch at a sidewalk cafe (I had a very good chili cheeseburger at Cafe Pickle), check out some of the early territorial architecture (not all have been fixed up as nicely as the one I show below), and drop in at Barnes and Noble (a good place to get out of the rain).

A Flagstaff bungalowNAU DomeMural on a bike store

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A hike at McKeldin

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

The first day of summer weather (85+ & humid) and my last chance to hike before leaving. Since I had to drop B&D at the airport around 8:30a, I needed a hike nearby, so I decided to do the most recent 10k volksmarch circuit at McKeldin.  This loop maximizes the ups and downs, but I doubt that any of them are over 100 feet, probably closer to 50′–nothing compared to the thousands I’ll be doing in a couple of weeks.  I didn’t take my camera, so this picture is from a previous hike, obviously earlier in the year before everything greened-up.

 If you aren’t familiar with volksmarching, check out the American Volksport Association website.

McKeldin Area

McKeldin Area

Posted in General, Volksmarch | 1 Comment »