Day 158 - Huaraz, Peru

TREKKING TO LAKE 69 NEAR HUARAZ (08/06/09)

Exhausted as we were after the past couple of days we decided to go on yet another trek which turned out to be the best yet. The beginning of the trek was about 2.5 hours from Huaraz but we stopped on the way to look at the beautiful blue Lake Llauganuco.

The first part of the trek was through a river valley dominated by these mountains, the larger of the two almost obscured by clouds.

The first part of the trek was up a gradual incline and was a pleasant and only slightly tiring walk. However at the end of the valley we reached this towering cliff and realised that our destination was at the top and our path was about to get considerably steeper.

Half way up and we took our first of many breaks to catch our breath and look at the magnificent view down the valley.

Finally at the top and we were both exhausted and extremely relieved hence the big smile. Little did we realise at this time that the lake we were headed for was at the top of the cliff you can see in the distance.

Spectacular views surrounded us on all sides.

Still unaware of the mammoth climb still to come.

Having realised our mistake we painfully started the next ascent. Hardly able to breath and aching all over we still managed to appreciate the beauty of our surroundings.

We found the zebra stripes of this ridge very attractive.

Finally actually at the top (at least as high as we were going) at an altitude 15,100 feet (4600m), still slightly too tired to give a proper smile.

The exhaustion soon disappeared when we realised how worthwhile the climb had been. The incredible blue of the lake is exactly how it looked, Adam currently does not have access to photoshop anyway.

It would have been breath taking if we had had any breath left to take!

As well as being stunningly blue the water was also incredibly clear.

Mesmerised by the blue water it was easy to overlook the snow clad mountains above.

On the way back down it was even easier to appreciate the landscape.

The red of the rocks, the white snow and bright blue sky complimented each other perfectly.

Due to the fact that most of the streams and waterfalls are created from glacial melt water they tend to be larger in the afternoon than in the morning.

Tired but extremely satisfied we took a last look back down the valley before heading home.