Day 4-Cuicocha Hike

The Corky Campuzano trail hike. July 22 0700 hrs

Guest Writer-Justin K.

Cuicocha Lake

So there we were. We had just finished up with quite probably the most awesome wedding any of us will ever attend in our life time. Barely 4 hours had passed since we layed our heads down and tried to recoup from the festivities of the night before when the alarm woke us up. But it didn't take long to realize that the early wake up was going to be well worth it.

Justin and Shannon having successfully navigated the hike in an earlier recon mission knew the trick would be to start the hike at the "back" and work our way toward the "front". This allowed for a more gradual introduction to the hills and would render the steepest grade a nice decent right at the end of the hike, in stead of an abrupt uphill start.

Some sort of foolishness

After some persuasive bilingual convincing, the bus driver (insert name) agreed to Justin's reverse start plan and drove us to the end of the hike. The terrain seemed gentile enough to start. The first half mile or so brought us through a field of grass where cows were grazing.  Some beautiful scenery for sure, but it wasn't until about 10 minutes in that the beauty of the mountain and the lake below revealed itself. Any lingering grogginess from the early morning start were all but dissipated by that panoramic view. The first glimpse of the lake and mountain range were breathtaking, and it wasn't just the 10,000 + feet in elevation talking.

After several rounds of picture taking that will inevitably fail to do justice in the sharing of this experience, we bagan to chip away at the 14 kilometer trek that lay before us (8.4 miles, but it sounds more impressive in klicks). The first few miles consisted mostly of relatively easy uphills and gradual downhills. The temperature, as it was for most of the entire trip, was perfect for hiking. Justin hung toward the back of the pack and let the gringos, with their questionable altitude acclimation drive the pace. Clearly Heather, a personal trainer by trade and likely the most fit among us was the natural choice to take point. She drove the pace hard and only 4 of 10 of us would make it off of the mountain that day. Actually we all made it, but you get the point.

Group Shot

Everyone was cruising along and we were making excellent time, even with frequent stops to capture the scenery...look for my entry on the next "shot on an iPhone" commercial btw. The grade was beginning to steepen quite a bit about 1/3 of the way through. You know you are starting to climb some serious hills when Ecuadorians feel the need to put steps on the trail. Back to back flights of stairs slowed the pace considerably. Alberto treated us to an epic retelling of the exploits of "Chad", aspiring Air Force drone operator and everyone's spirits were sufficiently lifted for another flight of stairs.

At the highest point in the hike we were approximately  10,350 feet above sea level, and 10,349 feet above the Eastern shoreline of the U.S. where most of this group normally resides if you were keeping score. At what appeared to be about the summit of the hike we stopped for a well deserved break and bagged lunch from the hacienda. The food was great and the view from under the pavilion at the top was even better.

As promised by resident expert and tour guide Justin, the second half of the hike was kinder on the hamstrings than the first. The back side of the mountain provided a different and equally beautiful view of the landscape, along with the stiff breeze that inspired the  "condoring" that ensued. We couldn't help but tap our inner Joe Namith by attempting to the throw rocks what we will call thousands of feet to the crater lake below. The success rate was questionable but no one fell down the mountain so we will call it a win.

We made short work of the last few miles and pulled into the finish with an impressive total time of 3:45. In an absolutely uncanny display of planning and time management, we walked up to the visitor center literally within 5 seconds of the bus ferrying the second half of the wedding group. At this point in the trip, I don't know why any of us were surprised. The level of detailed planning and forethought by Justin and Shannon and all those that help plan the entire wedding week was incredible. The hike was an experience of a lifetime that none of us will soon forget.

Editor's Note: One other group did a short hike to the beautiful Peguche Waterfalls while we were hiking Cuicocha. There is no narrative for that trip, but some pictures are below.