
Hasn't voted | The trail crosses the river 7 times. The trail starts on the right side of the river (looking upstream) at Santa Ana and crosses almost immeadiately. The hike in goes through an open area for a few miles before the canyon closes in. Eventually the trail crosses again, followed by 4 more crosses in a relatively short span of 2 or 3 hours of hiking. After the sixth cross, you will pass by a brilliant section of red rock the appears to be straight out of southern Utah. This marks the beginning of a difficult section where the canyon becomes much steeper and the "trail" becomes filled with loose rocks, slowing progress considerably. Eventually, the canyon opens up again and the trail crosses the river for a seventh and final time to the left side of the river. This begins the long final stretch where the views of the main peaks of the range begin to come into view. The straight-line distance according to GPS from Santa Ana to Pirca Polacos base camp is 15.25 miles, or about 25 km.
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