Hiking Colca Canyon, One of the Deepest Canyons in the World

Me in Colca Canyon

Like many other places I have visited, I knew nothing about Colca Canyon prior to arriving in Peru. It turns out that Peru has two of the deepest canyons in the world: Cotahausi and Colca. While Cotahuasi is deeper, it is also much more remote and with very few services. So, most tourists like myself visit Colca. Colca is actually twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, but the measurements are imprecise. Colca has a sheer face close to the river, but up higher has more of a valley topography. So, the deepest canyon is a disputed matter. Regardless, it is clearly one of the deepest in the world.

The Ride Up

I took a two day tour that started from Arequipa at 3:30 in the morning; very early for me. We drove up over the pampa reaching approximately 4,900 meters. The area looked amazing as it was covered with snow. Regretfully, I did not get any pictures of this as our guide was anxious to keep time so that we could see the condors at the condor look out. If you are taking this trip and you see this, my recommendation would be that you insist that you stop for pictures as the snow will most likely not be there when you return as it appears to melt daily.

Our first stop was for breakfast in the small town of Chivay. We then continued on directly to the condor look out where we saw no condors due to clouds, so we continued directly on to the hike.

The Hike Day 1

The first day of the hike was 18 km that had a net vertical drop of 1,320 meters with a gross vertical drop of approximately 1,755 with 580 meters of climbing. For me, this was a tough hike. Adding to the difficulty was the loose rock on the descent. I had to constantly watch my footing, which took away from the time that I could spend viewing the canyon.

During our initial descent, we were fortunate to see the condors that we could not see earlier. They gave us a good show as they flew around while we descended; meaning that we saw them from below, at the same level, and from above; all from a fairly close distance. It appeared that they must have a roosting point nearby, but we could not identify it.

The imagery was consistently fantastic:

View atop Colca Canyon

The Oasis where we would spend the night

View towards the valley of Colca Canyon

A canyon face

At the base of Colca Canyon

Looking up from the base of Colca

Heading up river towards the oasis

KM marker 18. My feet were sore.

Crossing the river one more time to reach the oasis

The oasis was a nice hostel with very few modern conveniences. It had a pool with luke warm water that we all dove into after the hike. There was no electricity. We ate a carb filled dinner and then went early to bed.

The Hike Day 2

The second day of the hike was primarily direct uphill 1,170 meters. While it was all uphill, I actually found this much easier than the much longer hike to arrive at the oasis. It was cloudy with slight rain, which helped keep me cool on the way up. The views were outstanding. I was hoping to get one of those religious inspiring views where the sun rays peak through the clouds. It seemed like it was going to happen all day, but did not.

Starting the hike up in the morning

View of the town at the top

Looking down from the top

The Ride Back

On the ride back we stopped at a few lookouts, the town of Maca and in the pampa where we saw llamas, alpacas and vicuñas. I was especially pleased to see the vicuñas as these are non-domesticated and endangered. I had not see them before.

Terraced agriculture in the valley

An eagle and I in the town of Maca

Domesticated alpacas

Wild vicuñas, hard to see