Nevado Hualca Hualca early in the morning

rgg - Oct 14, 2011 6:28 pm - Hasn't voted

And there is plenty of this type of scenery around, with lots of hiking opportunities! In fact, those big mountains are some 30km away and there is a lot of desert in between (and one main road - that's my destination today).

The key thing, if you go hiking out here, is to ask about the availability of water beforehand, or stay close enough to civilization to have an alternative if you cannot find water. I had a map (scale 1:100000), but on my first hike in this area I learned the hard way that dotted blue lines do not always mean that there is actually water! This photo is from my second hike, and, fortunately, the area around Nevado Chucura, from where I took this photo, has some streams and small lakes, so you can enjoy the desert in relative safety.

Saludos, Rob