Day 7 Valley of Death, Valle de la Muerte, Atacama, Chile February 18, 2018
It was another gorgeous day in San Pedro de Atacama with a beautiful, intensely bright blue sky.
We were headed toward Valle de la Muerte, or Death Valley, to start today's hike with our hiking guide, Mariano.We were picked up early and hopped into the 4 wheel drive SUV driven by our guide, Daniel.
The "road" to reach the trail-head of today's hike to the appropriately named "Death Valley", involved a hair-raising "off road" circuitous route forging streams from last night's rain and navigating around rocks and boulders on the dilapidated, narrow one lane 1930's old clay-dirt road,
which believe it or not, was the only way to get to the closest town of Calama from 1930 until the recent highway 23 was built!
which believe it or not, was the only way to get to the closest town of Calama from 1930 until the recent highway 23 was built!
After thanking Daniel for his expert driving skills, we began our hike on this dirt track
We ascended and then walked thru the 1930 tunnel
which is located under the Salt Mountains before beginning our steep ascent along the ridgetop.It was a long, hot hike up as we gained significant altitude.
until we reached the highest viewpoint.
From there we admired the amazing view of the fertile San Pedro River and the high snow-capped volcanoes of the Andes mountains and Catarpe Valley.
We then headed along the ridge over to
Valley of Death's Sand Dune
The Valley of Death is known for its huge sand dune and its narrow sand edges.
It was a steep, long way down; but great fun and the views were sensational.
If only we knew how to sand-board, we'd have gone down even faster!
There at the flat area bottom of the sand dune was a patch of life blossoming in the hot, arid desert floor of the Valley of Death.
Daniel was waiting for us when we ended our hike and we were driven back to San Pedro de Atacama once again. What a great hike and a great way to acclimatize to get ready for tomorrow's hike to Salar de Tara y Monjes de la Pacana.