Day 4 of backpacking the Santa Cruz Trail in the Cordillera Blanca dawned with welcome sun to help us dry out. To see how we planned for our independent trek, see Planning an independent backpacking trip on the Santa Cruz Trail, and to read about our first day, see Hiking the Santa Cruz Trail in Peru: Day 1. In … Continue reading
We were on our 3rd day of backpacking the Santa Cruz Trail in the Cordillera Blanca, a mountain range in Peru, and were ready to tackle the Punta Union, the highest point on the trail. My husband and I were hiking independently but had camped in a designated campsite near a guided group. To see how … Continue reading
We had completed our first day of backpacking the Santa Cruz Trail in the Cordillera Blanca, a mountain range in Peru, and were ready to tackle the second day. My husband and I were hiking independently but had camped in a designated campsite near a guided group. To see how we planned for our independent … Continue reading
The Santa Cruz Trail is the most popular trail in the Cordillera Blanca range in Peru, but it was surprisingly difficult to find detailed information for the independent trekker. Most people do it as a guided hike, but the track is well signed, and backpackers with the right experience and equipment can easily complete the four day … Continue reading
For being such a popular trail, it was difficult to get detailed information about how to hike the 31 mile (50 km), four-day Santa Cruz Trail in Peru. Like most of the backcountry trails in the mountainous areas of this region, it’s an Inca trail, being one of the many routes that connected the highlanders … Continue reading
