Colca Canyon

The second deepest canyon in the world

20 miles, 8000+ feet of elevation change (first day was all downhill, last day was just straight up 3000+ ft climb). I was super glad that Ben was there to do this challenging backpacking trip with me. After reading about getting to the trailhead via few busses, we managed to get to the trail at around noon to start our 2 night 3 day journey!

To be frank, I didn't find the canyon itself particularly awestriking as I did with the Grand Canyon. While Grand Canyon displays its age and history with layers and layers of colors, this canyon was more brown than anything, and more desert-like than anything else. This spot is advertised as a great condor watching spot - and we did spot one! - but mostly, it was a great workout, we met some really fun people, and there were shelters with running water, food and a bed each night. I think the best part about "backpacking" in these countries is that you can manage without carrying any of the real backpacking gear a lot of the time, since most of the very well-known spots are ripe with teahouses and shelters.