Huayhuash Circuit - Days 5 & 6

Day Five - Agua Termas Viconga to 2km from Elephant Camp

This morning, we decided to have a chill morning and make the most of the hot springs. The tour group left early so when we woke up at 7:30am we had the place to ourselves.

We had been told the hot springs weren’t that warm, but I am here to say whoever told me that was crazy. They were SO hot and relaxing, our morning was pure bliss. There was an area for washing clothes, so we washed our smelly hiking clothes we had worn for four days straight and let them dry in the sun whilst we relaxed and rejuvenated.

There was a tiny “restaurant” there – really a shack, with one large wonky table in it. We ordered a meal of meat (I THINK lamb but I didn’t really want to know), rice, chips and a salad – it was huge and delicious, especially eating the same few combinations of pasta the previous 4 days.

We finally hit the trail again at about 1pm, and we hiked for about 4.5 hours mostly uphill, before calling it a day when the temperature started to drop and the sun went down. Instead of reaching Elephant Camp like we had intended to, we walked over the Punta Cuyoc pass reaching 5020 metres, and back down another 200m to a spot we found on the side of the mountain, looking over the sunsetting in the valley. A truly blissful camping spot.

DAY FIVE FAST FACTS:

Hike Agua Termas Viconga to 2km from Elephant Camp

Time it took us: 4.5 hours
Trail conditions: Rocky, dusty in some points
Distance: 6.8km

Lunch cost at Agua Termas Viconga – PEN20/AUD$8.05/USD$5.35

Day Six - San Antonio Pass

After advice from the helpful team at Andean Kingdom in Huaraz, we decided to tackle one of the circuits best viewpoints as a day hike from the Elephant Camp campground – the top of San Antonio Pass. Given we had wild camped 2km from there, our morning started with a steep and rocky downhill walk – and being grateful I hadn’t tried to attempt that after sunset, as I am not the most coordinated downhill hiker!

We set up camp again at the bottom, and took the morning slow as we cooked breakfast and repacked our daypacks with the essentials (mostly just snacks).

The hike up to San Antonio Pass was extremely steep, and the second half was a bit of a scramble up rocky terrain. Although it’s only just under 4km up, it is a tough climb as you hike from 4500m to just over 5000m – breathing that high up isn’t the easiest!

DAY SIX FAST FACTS:

Hike from Elephant Camp to San Antonio Pass, return

Time it took us: 4 hours (inc. 1 hour at the top)
Trail conditions: Rocky, scrambly
Distance: 8km

Village entry cost – Elephant Camp: For some reason, free! Not sure if they just never got around to collecting from us?

The views at the top, despite the cloud cover we had, were still incredible. We spent about an hour up there exploring the different viewpoints (including 10 minutes of me frozen halfway between safe spaces, freaking out on scrambly rocks with a huge drop below me). We could have stayed up there for hours, but as it was mid-afternoon, the temperature was already dropping and the wind was picking up.

I don’t love downhill at the best of times, but this downhill given the steepness and the slippery terrain was horrible for me. I very slowly, very carefully, made my way down the first 500m backwards. I’d say I took twice as long getting down as I did getting up! There were no falls, only a few tears, and I made it back down just before sunset.