Hiking the Santa Cruz Trek - Camping in the Andes of Peru
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2024
- Hiking and wild camping the Santa Cruz Trek in Huascaran National Park, Peru. The Santa Cruz Trek is a 45km trek from Vaqueria (3500m) to Cashapampa (2900m), via Punta Union pass (4750m). The Santa Cruz Trek is normally done in 4 days and 3 nights, and is popular with tour groups and guided hikers, often with donkeys that carry your gear! We completed the Santa Cruz Trek is 3 days and 2 nights 'self supported' without guides or porters, leaving us with the flexibility and freedom to enjoy the Peruvian wilderness and 'wild camp' at night.
The Santa Cruz Trek showcases amazing scenery of the Cordillera Blanca range in the Peruvian Andes. We saw spectacular peaks along the trail, including Taulliraju (5830m), Alpamayo (5947m) Quitaraju (6036m), Artesonraju (6025m), and Santa Cruz (6259m).
The classic Santa Cruz Trek is 45km in total, but we added in a 6km detour to see Laguna Arhuaycocha. This detour gave spectacular views of Alpamyo, Quitaraju, and Artesonraju - I would highly recommend the detour, even if you have to take your backpack off and pick it up on the way back.
Before the hike we spent 4 whole days acclimatising to the altitude, doing day hikes. This served as a 'warm up' multiday hike for Cordillera Huayhuash (video soon)
Starting in Vaqueria and finishing in Cashapampa meant 600m less to climb overall, which made finishing the hike in 3 days much easier. We also relied on public transaction (Colectivos, which are small vans that are like shared taxi-bus), which meant that we didn't start the first day until mid-morning, and needed to finish the third day as early as possible to get back to Huaraz.
Getting from Huaraz to using Colectivos was straight forward, but the journey from Yungay to Vaqueria was very bumpy along the mountain road. The Colectivo from Cashapampa to Caraz was quite scary along a narrow track that had sheer cliff face on one side. Below is how we got to and from the Santa Cruz Trek using Colectivos, and the costs. If you were more familiar with Peru and spoke better Spanish some of the fares could've probably been cheaper.
- Huaraz → Yungay, 5:30am, approx 75 mins (s./8)
- Yungay → Vaqueria, 7:00am (actually left at 7:30am), approx 3 hours (s./40)
- Cashapampa → Caraz, 2:45pm, approx 1 hour (s./20)
- Caraz → Huaraz, 4:00pm, approx 3 hours (long wait in Yungay) (s./10)
This video and route summary is only a recording and report of my trip and is not to be used as a guide or route by others.__
00:00 Route and intro
02:18 Day 1 - Vaqueria to Laguna Huiscash (ish)
05:21 Day 2 - Camp to Arhuaycocha
10:51 Day 3 - Camp to Cashapampa
12:42 Ending thoughts
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Day 1: Left the hostel in Huaraz at 5am to catch the early 5:30am Colectivo to Yungay, then another Colectivo to Vaqueria which is the start of the Santa Cruz Trek. Started hiking mid-morning on a sunny and cloudless day. Ended the day and camped at 4200m. 15km and 825m gained
Day 2: Climbed up and over Punta Union pass at 4750m, then descended into the valley to the West. Took the detour going North towards Laguna Ayhuaycocha. Ended the day around 1km South of Alpamayo Base Camp.16km and 1050m gained
Day 3: Initially headed South to 'undo' the detour of the previous day, before picking up the main trail again and headed West for the rest of the day, past Laguna Jatuncocha and Laguna Ichiccocha. Finished at Cashapampa where there was a Colectivo waiting to leave luckily. Colectivo to Caraz followed by another Colectivo from Caraz to Huaraz, and back to our hostel. 25km and 200m gained.
#SantaCruz #Peru #ultralight #andes #hikingadventures
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Hiking and camping gear I used (These are affiliate links):
GPS Watch → amzn.to/3j7yIob
Tent - 3F Lanshan 1 Pro→ s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A9oNsM
Sleeping bag - UKHammocks Winter Topquilt
Sleeping mat - Exped Synmat HL → amzn.to/3PEQDmh
Backpack - 3F UL XPAC Backpack → s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AZN1jw
Water filter - Platypus Quickdraw → amzn.to/3c8vH9o
Water bag - Evernew 1.5L → amzn.to/3ACjjrF
Solar charger → s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dd4...
Titanium pan → s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9vAYF3
Titanium spork → s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AkjY5f
Full Gear List on Lighterpack: lighterpack.com/r/zsi8ke
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Instagram: / itsrichardcheng
Filming gear that I used for this video (These are affiliate links):
Main Camera → amzn.to/3QXtts9
Lens → amzn.to/3QH19KT
Phone → amzn.to/3hwO2e1
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Music:
Beginning - Arnyd (CC BY 3.0) / beginning
Afterlife - GalaxyTones (CC BY 3.0) / afterlife
Edelweiss - Onycs (CC BY 3.0) / edelweiss
This page contains affiliate links which means at no additional cost to you, I may receive a small commission for purchases made via these links which goes to help me in making more videos and to support this channel
this is -as always- an amazing video .. can't wait for your video about the other hikes..
THANKS
Thanks Mohammad!
Such wonderful scenery. Great Trek with incredible views. Santa Cruz Trek looks fire ;)
Thanks Mario, yes the Santa Cruz Trek was spectacular
Excellent video. I did a lot up near Yungay when I lived in Peru, but never got round to this area. Brilliant work 👍
Thank you Johnny - I’m jealous of the fact that you lived in Peru!
Awesome video, thanks. Keep 'em coming!
Thank you very much, a video on the Cordillera Huayhuash is in the works
Great video you have inspired me to go here thanks
Great to hear - thank you!
As always Richard very informative and fantastic scenery - - good luck and thanks for sharing.
Thank you very much Jack 😁
Wow Richard* Such breathtaking scenery* You captured it so beautifully* I very much appreciate all that you do & share* Your descriptions & attention to all the details regarding your hikes , make the whole journey even more emmersive for the viewer :-) Amazing Richard* Many thanks*
Thank you very much!
I sincerely hope you start getting more views Richard. Your videos, be it product or trips, are nothing short of inspiring and a wonderful watch. Cheers for another fantastic one, atb from Norway
Thank you very much Vandrefolk, that’s very kind of you
Vandrefalk Yes , I very much agree :-) Sending best wishes from Scotland*
altitude went rough on you. gratz with enduring it, there are many who cant' manage this high without porter service.
Thank you very much. We took a few days to acclimatise and it ended up being manageable and fun!
What a gorgeous scenery bud, landscapes are simply spectacular here.
Completely agree - the entire 3 days was stunning
@@RichardCheng :-) *
You're back Richard! 😁
What are you using for footwear these days?
Hey Jonathan, I’m using Adidas Terrex Brushwood trail runners and been really enjoying them. They’ve lasted over 300km so far, and is in pretty good shape given the mileage
Hi Richard, were you able to see Alpamayo from any part of the trek? I am a big guy (280 pounds) and 6 feet 3 inches tall. Should I not pursue this? I am fascinated by the mountains in the ancash region and was thinking about doing this specific trail.
Yes we were able to see Alpamayo - hard mountain to miss due to its distinctive shape!
Tent wise you should be able to fit diagonally in the tent, especially if you sleep on your side slightly curled because of the sloping sides
Amazing video! I plan to do this one and the Salkantay next month. Is there anything I should know about rules/regulations for wild camping? Will I be free to camp where ever I choose?
Hi Travis, on this trek there are dedicated campsites which are nice and flat, with good views. I’m not 100% sure about the regulations for wild camping, especially for the Salkantay trek which Liam and I did not do
@@RichardCheng thank you! Do these need to be booked in advance?
Nope, just turn up!
beautiful
Thank you