Our original itinerary included two rest days. We used the first one as planned at Jahuacocha and our second one was planned for Cutatambo (we were thinking of day hiking to Sarapococha, site of “Touching the Void”). However, taking this rest day would leave us with a much longer than normal hiking day on either day 10 or 11 so we decided to hike down to the village Huayllapa on Day 9. We did have an option to hike up to Sarapococha first, but opted to just hike directly to the village and have a pseudo rest day. And Norah was excited at the prospect of “sleeping in civilization”. She would later find out that civilization in the Huayhuash is vastly different from her idea of civilization.

The descent to Huayllapa is straightforward and took us around 3.5 hours. The first half of the hike follows the Rio Calinca to the junction with the trail and river from Quebrada Huanacpatay (also the site of a large waterfall). Following the Rio Calinca with cliffs on either side of the river reminded us of hiking in the Grand Canyon. At the junction we continued westward along the river to Huayllapa and we could tell we were getting closer to the village when we started seeing more small farms and terraced plots for crops (Norah also noted we were getting closer to a village when we started seeing more trash, unfortunately). There is a gate on the trail before the village and we stopped to pay our fee. We walked down into the village on narrow, dusty roads and past simple buildings to the school where our camp was located on the soccer field. The kids were outside for PE and Norah was watching the games when a group of girls got up the courage to come over and say hi (with Victor translating for us). It was cute watching Norah and the girls ask each other questions.

We were definitely the village curiosity in Huayllapa - people kept coming by the field to check out camp and when we ventured out into the village people were clearly watching us (and a few kids followed us around). We did feel a little awkward and retired to our tent to read and rest, until we found two little girls peeking in. Even though Norah and the sisters couldn’t talk to one another, they spent the late afternoon playing around the field until it was time for dinner. It felt considerably warmer tonight as we were at the lowest elevation campsite on our trip. It was another early night (realistically, what night wasn’t an early night on this trip?), especially because we knew we had a big climb ahead of us the next day.

Day 9:
775 m/2540 ft descent
Camp at Huayllapa 3490m /11450 ft

Day ten was our biggest ascent of the trip - nearly 1300 meters of climbing (4200 ft) from Huayllapa to Tapush Punta. The trail from Huayllapa follows Quebrada Milo and while there were some steep spots here and there, overall the climb was gradual enough that we felt good and moved at a steady pace (we also played a lot of “Concentration” with Norah to pass the time). We passed by the first camping area at Huatiaq in Quedbrada Huancho and from here the trail got steeper to the col. We took breaks periodically, including one at the col that had a lot of rock corrals and good views. The final push to the pass was not steep and a pleasant walk through some beautiful scenery.

We had a nice long break at Tapush Punta before continuing on to our campsite. The trail gradually descended, passing Laguna Susucocha and the Gashapampa campsite. Just beyond the campsite the trail splits and we stuck to the right fork that eventually turns east into Quebrada Angocancha. Our campsite was near the mouth of the valley in a flat grassy area by the river. Angocancha was not as scenic as some of our other campsites, although we were treated to a beautiful sunset before dinner. Another day in the books!

Day 10:
1280 m/4200 ft ascent
320 m/1050 ft descent
High Point: Tapush Punta: 4770 m/15,650 ft
Camp at Angocancha 4450 m/14,600ft