Anytime I crave to go on a trip, I immediately begin brainstorming places in South America. This region is so vast, so full of amazing culture, people, and above all untouched nature. The past three months, I got to spend everyday outside, some months, sleeping more nights outdoors than inside. The views I saw, the physical challenges I went through, and the immense happiness I felt came from all my backpacking trips.
While, I haven’t been to all the countries in South America, I have formed a list of my absolute must do hikes in South America.
Salkantay: This is a gorgeous 4-5 day hike that leads to the amazing Machu Picchu. While, it was a little crowded for me (even in off season), and a little overdeveloped for a nature outing, the views were amazing, and the end result of Machu Picchu was amazing. This choice is actually perfect for seeing this wonder of the world because you can get the 6 AM entrance ticket and arrive before the crowds. The hike is not too challenging and easily bookable through an agency in Cusco. The hike features gorgeous mountain passes, lakes, and varied landscapes.
Torres del Paine The W: Chile’s TDP is one of the most popular hiking spots in the world. To get an opportunity to enter this national park is to see some amazing glaciers, the awe inspiring torres towers, and overall stunning views of nature. My issues with this hike is the price to enter the park is hefty, to get camping spots sometimes you have to book months in advance, and it’s super crowded. With those complaints aside, it’s obvious why so many people go, and the views really are amazing.
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Santa Cruz: This hike based out of Huaraz, Peru is absolutely stunning. A perfect backpacking trip to try without a guide, this hike is extremely challenging for a high altitude pass but completely doable. The views are truly epic, the hikes are doable but challenging, and the end result is an extremely rewarding experience.
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Huayhuash: Similar to Santa Cruz, Huayhuash is a longer trek, around 8-13 days, that includes multiple passes, extreme high altitudes, and seriously the most beautiful views in the world. I did this trek guided (because I seriously couldn’t bring a bag full of 8 days of food), and loved the group we booked with. We got amazing food, an expert guide who lived in these mountains his entire life, and a fun group environment. This hike is seriously epic and even though we experienced crazy weather, it was one of the best hikes of my whole life, and very affordable.
Huemel: After all my high altitude hikes, I really thought Huemel would be a breeze. For some reason this Southern Argentina Patagonia hike kicked my butt so hard. Before embarking on the journey, you have to talk to the park guards and register your name, and our guard really tried to dissuade us to go because of the bad weather. The hike can be super dangerous with bad weather and low visibility. With an easy first day, the second day really kicked it up with an extremely confusing pass, that is both very rocky and slippery and steep. After this pass though and one tricky zipline crossing, you arrive to the most amazing view of the Patagonian ice fields. With the impending weather, my friend and I decided to combine days 2 and 3 which caused the most excruciating pain for my legs. The day 3 portion is another pass and the steepest down hill of my life. I’m not kidding when I say it was easier to just slide down on my butt than try to actually face the steep slide. Regardless, this hike is amazing and free!
Some other tips I have:
Consider going off season. South American tourist crowds are real and hiking with people on your heels the entire time really takes away from the experience. All the hikes I did were off season and we were able to find windows with clear weather
Bring your gear. If you can, bringing some good gear will cause you to save some serious money for rentals. And also be sure to bring super warm clothes, all of these hikes are in regions that can get frigid.
Enjoy. Sometimes I was in so much physical pain, I didn’t even really appreciate the most epic views of my life, so soak them up and enjoy!
Hailee Boyle Social Media Management 