Letterbox-Peru: Salkantay Pass — Geocache of the Week
Find this D4 / T4.5 Geocache of the Week and you might think a terrain rating of 10 is more appropriate.
The cache has been hidden under the shadow of Salkantay Mountain in the Cusco region of Peru since 2012. It’s placed at the highest point of the popular Salkantay Trek, a route to Machu Picchu that winds 74 kilometers through stunning landscapes, from the alpine lakes of the Peruvian Andes to the tropical cloud forests below.
Salkantay Pass, where the cache is hidden, is reached on the second day of the trek. The climb to the top of the pass usually starts before 4am, and only after 4-6 hours of strenuous high-altitude climbing is the pass reached.
The reward is a spectacular view of Salkantay Mountain, a victory photo under the only man-made structure at the top, and this carefully hidden and well-preserved Letterbox-Hybrid cache.
The cache was placed by geocaching team enaus during their hike through the pass. It’s maintained by a local Salkantay trek guide named Manuel.
Having done the hike themselves, the cache owners know exactly how tough it is to make it to the top. “But what you don’t know at this point,” they add, “is that the amazing journey is just begun. The hike down through 1.5km in altitude in just a few hours leads through several different landscape and climate zones. In the morning hours at the top there is gravel and ice and later the day you can see coffee, papaya, avocado growing at the edge of the road. Amazing!”
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