Rocotuyoc Lake: a place between a frozen lake and cave painting
This full day tour shows two lakes that are located at the foot of the glacial cirque of the beautiful snow-capped mountains: Paccharaju, Bayoraju and Copa Norte, as well as Vicos and Akilpo peaks, with an unforgettable natural scenic beauty, the trip goes through Quebrada Honda and Quebrada Paccharuri (in Quechua language means hidden waterfall), during the passage through these canyons we can enjoy imposing granite walls and dense native andean vegetation as well as various waterfalls. The Rocotuyoc lake and frozen lake are located in the top of Paccharuri canyon and one behind the other. The lake closest to the glacial cirque is frozen with small icebergs, a spectacular view of mountains, ice and blue skies. Very close to these lakes there are cave paintings in a place called Llamaruri (in Quechua language means: hidden llama), this is a cave where the counting of llamas was recorded in the historical stage called: Late Horizon (600 AD – 1,000 AD) that belonged to pre-Inca natives of the Americas. Therefore, this is a tour of culture and adventure that you cannot miss.
Huaraz (Google Map)
8:30 am (Pick up at your hotel)
Participants should have experience in altitude, which ensures adequate acclimatization and conditioning of the body to the altitude. It’s suggested to be above 3,000 m.a.s.l., so we recommend staying in Huaraz one day before the tour to Rocotuyoc.
This adventure will start in Huaraz, we will pick you up at your hotel with transportation. After the pick up we will go north of Huaraz to Marcará town, then we will continue to Vicos village and we will turn off towards Quebrada Honda.
We will make a stop at the control of the Huascaran National Park to pay the entrance fee to the lake, then the transport will continue along a steep road to reach the bottom of the Quebrada Paccharuri where the Rocotuyoc Lake will be. The bus ride from Huaraz to Rocotuyoc Lake will take 3 hours.
We will go around the Rocotuyoc lake until we reach the frozen lake, we will stay some time to eat and rest, then we will return by the same road. At 10 minutes from the lakes we will make a last stop at the cave paintings of Llamaruri, we will walk for 10 minutes from the road to the cave, place where we will appreciate the pre-Inca art of the period (600 AD to 1,000 AD). Finally we will continue with our return to Huaraz, into the Huaylas Valley we will stop for lunch.
Transportation by car: 3 hours (Huaraz to Rocotuyoc Lake) and another 3 hours (return to Huaraz).
Estimated hike time: 1 hour
Elevation: +1600m (3,100 masl to 4,700 masl)
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