The fourth day on the trail was another chill one. Our guides were really good at helping us conserve energy by always slowing us down. The pace was so laid-back.
By the way, this 360° Traverse is waaaay more interesting than the standard route — more on that later.
Here’s looking back at where we just came from. You can see our last camp off in the distance (circled).
Temperatures were much more pleasant today.
The mules seen crossing the river here are helping us get the bulk of our gear to base camp — after that, it’s up to us to carry our own stuff the rest of the way (or hire a porter to do so).
Our next lower camp, Casa de Piedra, comes into view off in the distance.
Here we get our first glimpse of the Sentinel of Stone from 10,600 feet. The summit still towers far above — nearly twice our height with yet another 12,000 feet to climb.
Along the banks of Rio de las Vacas, Casa de Piedra is “home” for tonight.
Today’s stats: 10 more miles and another 1,500 feet, but this time with a nice breeze in the 80s.
Side Quest
Since we arrived here so early, I decided to wander around above camp. Continuing up to 11,300′, I ran into what a thought was a wild llama. Turns out this is a guanaco, which is in the llama family but bigger. It’s also a puma’s primary source of food.
I also found the source of our drinking water. What blew me away was how none of this water was filtered before we drank it yet no one got sick from it either — and there was plenty of opportunity for this water to be tainted between all the free-roaming mules and wild guanaco’s running around.
I didn’t think I’d go far enough to start my watch or record tracks with my phone, but my Oura ring picked up another mile.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing since tomorrow, we would cross the Vacas River and head up Relincho Canyon across the way.
Case de Piedre is the last of lower camps before reaching basecamp.
