Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Rainbow Mountain Trek - Peru

Started off getting picked up by a bus at 7am. There was a group of ~14 of us. The ride there took about 3 hours. We started our trek at ~4300m altitude. I already got used to the high altitude so I didn't have a problem. The hike was a low gradual incline the whole time, so there was some jogging potential :D. I was trekking with 2 other friends, but as soon as we got to higher elevations they were slowing down. The whole trek took 2 hours. Many people took donkeys , but it was like $30 rental fee. I was the first one on the rainbow mountain! It was pretty windy so we stayed there to take some pictures and sat near a wall where the wind was blocked. After an hour I tell my friends that I want to go to the Red Valley which is about 30min away. We are running low on time so I end up going by myself. The views were also really nice! The hieghest point of that mountain according to my Suunto was 5050m.
After an hour I made my way back to the Rainbow Mountain, most if not all of my group was gone. I started my jog all the way down. I ended up passing dozens of people on donkeys, and even more that were walking. I got all the way to the base camp where only 2 people were waiting. I caught up to everyone else. The jog back took ~1 hour. While waiting for the rest of the group, within the next 30 minutes there was a thunderstorm and hail for the remainder of the trip. Luckily we made it back before the wet weather. Had some snacks, and in no time we headed towards the bus, and back to cusco for 6pm.