Lagunas Altiplanicas + Piedras Rojas
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 221.31 mi
- Elevation gain
- 11,463 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Easy
- Elevation loss
- 11,463 ft
- Max elevation
- 13,854 ft
- TrailRank
-
66
4.7
- Min elevation
- 7,559 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 9 hours 7 minutes
- Coordinates
- 15715
- Uploaded
- December 11, 2015
- Recorded
- November 2015
near San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta (Chile)
Viewed 13090 times, downloaded 772 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
This trail was made with a tour agency, its normally called just Piedras Rojas (red stones), it suppose to include all the places in the tour Lagunas Altiplanicas (plateau lakes), but goes a little bit further to reach the red stones for the extra price.
Entrances fee: at Laguna Miscanti y Meñiques, and in Laguna Chaxa too.
Walking, Hiking: the tour don't allow too much time to do that but there is almost no place where you can do it, short walks can be done with the waiting time they give to you. Most of the places are reserves so you cannot just walk freely.
Times: the earlier the better, avoid crowds, specially in Piedras Rojas, otherwise you won't get any good picture. The other places it will be annoying if too many people but ok to take pictures.
Weather: extremely windy and dry, bring windproof jacket, gloves, glasses or your eyes will dry, lips balm is very useful, skin moisturiser is good idea to bring.
When you head to Laguna Chaxa (in Atacama Desert) the weather will change a lot, very hot and dry, bring sun screen.
Wildlife: for me it was easy to see vicuñas, flamingos not so easy, just few in Laguna Chaxa, some other animals its difficult to spot.
TOUR AGENCIES
Crazy difficult to understand, they merge with other companies, so if you pay more its not necessary a better service, you might end up in the vehicle of other agency with cheaper price. The driver is the important thing here, if you don't book a pack of tours and you meet a good driver in some tour ask how to do more tours with him. Usually the tours are done in mini van, 12 to 20 passengers, so there are not many stops to take pictures on the road, only the main destination (too much time getting everyone out and in again) the vehicle for some reason normally cannot open the window. Getting a private tour in a car might be very good idea so you can skip boring places, ask for more stops on the go. No idea the price for private tour, try find more people and share
Entrances fee: at Laguna Miscanti y Meñiques, and in Laguna Chaxa too.
Walking, Hiking: the tour don't allow too much time to do that but there is almost no place where you can do it, short walks can be done with the waiting time they give to you. Most of the places are reserves so you cannot just walk freely.
Times: the earlier the better, avoid crowds, specially in Piedras Rojas, otherwise you won't get any good picture. The other places it will be annoying if too many people but ok to take pictures.
Weather: extremely windy and dry, bring windproof jacket, gloves, glasses or your eyes will dry, lips balm is very useful, skin moisturiser is good idea to bring.
When you head to Laguna Chaxa (in Atacama Desert) the weather will change a lot, very hot and dry, bring sun screen.
Wildlife: for me it was easy to see vicuñas, flamingos not so easy, just few in Laguna Chaxa, some other animals its difficult to spot.
TOUR AGENCIES
Crazy difficult to understand, they merge with other companies, so if you pay more its not necessary a better service, you might end up in the vehicle of other agency with cheaper price. The driver is the important thing here, if you don't book a pack of tours and you meet a good driver in some tour ask how to do more tours with him. Usually the tours are done in mini van, 12 to 20 passengers, so there are not many stops to take pictures on the road, only the main destination (too much time getting everyone out and in again) the vehicle for some reason normally cannot open the window. Getting a private tour in a car might be very good idea so you can skip boring places, ask for more stops on the go. No idea the price for private tour, try find more people and share
Waypoints
Waypoint
0 ft
Laguna Miscanti Viewpoint 1
Comments (7)
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Muchas gracias
Muchas Gracias por la información. Se requiere de un vehículo doble tracción para esta ruta? saludos.
no hace falta un vehículo especial, hay una parte que es camino de tierra si no me falla la memoria, pero no hay problemas con usar un vehículo normal. Asegurate de llevar una rueda de repuesto, parece que es muy fácil que se rompan, los tours de agencias los hacen en mini van, colectivos, sin problemas, cuando yo lo hice se rompió una rueda, la cambiaron y seguimos sin problemas, la mayor parte del camino es asfaltado
I have followed this trail View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Easy
Thank you !!
Olá amigo, compensa dedicar um dia para essa rota?
Celsoedu: si, esta ruta se hace en un día, aproximadamente 9 horas
Você conhece um guia para ir comigo de carro? É necessário carro 4x4?