Peru's Sacred Valley -Gateway to Machu Picchu

I am currently on a fantastic trip to South America, a place second only to my home continent of North America. I love it here! Great landscapes, colorful cultures, exotic experiences - it has everything. I am serving as the Study Leader for 17 people to Peru and Ecuador with the Smithsonian Institute's travel program, Smithsonian Journey's. You can check out their full listing of trips here.

This blog posting begins in Peru's Sacred Valley along the Urubamba River. I have been here many times before but never in such gorgeous weather - we are just in front of the rainy season.

This was our first view of the Sacred Valley, so named because of the many Inca rulers who lived here in the 14th and 15 centuries. The fertile valley of the Urubamba River stretches downstream to the north in this photograph. The mountains are spectacular and rise as high as 18,000 feet in the far distance, yet the vast Amazon Basin is located just a few miles over the mountain to the east (right). It is an extreme landscape in the best possible way.

Close-in view from the same vantage. The crops are corn, quinoa, potatoes, and vegetables of all kinds.

In this upper stretch of the Urubamba Valley, slightly metamorphosed Paleozoic sediments (seen here) are found alongside Tertiary effusive volcanic rocks. Thus the valley is wide and able to support moderate scale agriculture.

The Urubamba River is calm and placid through the colonial town of Pisac but will become a fierce maelstrom once it slices through the Vilcabamba batholith (next post).

Street scene in Pisac.

Detail of roof line in Pisac neighborhood.

The church in Pisac beneath the towering Andes Mountains.

Plaza from inside the church.

Suddenly a funeral procession appeared with music and about 200 people.

Carrying the casket to the church. People are buried now when dead but this valley and the Inca culture that lived here are renown for the mummification of their rulers, whose corpses were continually pulled out of storage during important celebrations.

Volcanic rocks on the eastern side of the valley,

Next stop down valley was the inca city of Ollantaytambo. Here is an original Inca street with more modern houses built on top of the Inca foundations. The great ruin built by the ruler Pachacuti (1438-72) is visible on the hill in the baqckground.

Granaries at Ollantaytambo. Note the watchtower built on top of the hill.

A reconstructed Inca home with thatched roof.

Pretty much everyone in the Sacred Valley raises guinea pigs Span. "cuy" (ku-ee) in their home for food. I am told we will get to try this delicacy in Cuzco in two nights time.

An old Inca Trail snakes its way south in the Sacred Valley

Detail of an Inca wall in Ollantaytambo.

Same, same.

View south toward Ollantaytambo town and the side canyon of the Patakancha River (left).

Ollantaytambo ruin and town.

This is the ramp upon which the large granite stones were brought to the site of Pachacuti's palace.

Annotated view showing the location of the stone quarry (yellow), the approximate location of the road to the site (red), and the course of the Urubamba River (blue). The distance involved for such large stones is staggering. Add in the elevation (quarry about 11,000 feet asl), terrain, and river crossing and the idea becomes mind numbing. This is truly an advanced civilization.

The town of Urubamba looking east from the road to Chinchero. Note the glaciers on the high Andes in the distance.

Close-up of the Chicon glaciers.

The glaciers have retreated immensely in the last 40 years.

More Andean views form the road to Chincheros

Young girl on the road to Chincheros

Andean road scene.

Spectacular mountains in an active tectonic setting.

Looking downstream along the Sacred Valley toward Machu Picchu, the subject of my next post.

Canyonlands River Trip 2014

My Canyonlands rafting trip in 2014 was a huge success. Running the Green and Colorado Rivers through the National Park is among the scenic and rewarding adventures I ever done. For the geologist, it has everything. And the wildflowers are spectacular. Take a look. And by the way - I have a few spots left for the 2015 trip from May 17 to 26. Contact me for more info.

We have a one day tour of the Island in the Sky section of the Park by 4-wheel drive. Seeing the White Rim and Schafer Point (shown) trails is awesome. La Sal Mt. laccolith in the background.

We fly into Mineral Bottom airstrip to begin the trip. It is a short 20-minute flight from the Moab Airport.

View downstream on the Green River from Fort Bottom. The wide flats next to river are called bottoms.

Here is the fort at Fort Bottom. This area is at the ancestral junction between the Anasazi lands to the south and the Fremont lands to the north.

A fossil bone with the Moss Back Member of the Chinle Formation.

The Buttes of the Cross are actually two buttes one in front of the other and were named by John Wesley Powell.

Scorpion weed (purple) and daisy in Anderson Bottom.

Prickly pear cactus blossoms.

An old cowboy route in Anderson Bottom provides access to the rim lands.

Candlestick Tower from the Turk's Head.

Climbing up to Skylight Arch.

Skylight Arch.

A Google Earth image of the location Skyline Arch (yellow tack). The junction of the Green and the Grand (Colorado) is shown at the bottom of the picture.

A closer look on Google Earth of the arch location.

Beautiful spring-time bloom.

Above the Green River.

Along the Green River.

The Honaker Trail Formation exposed along the Green River just upstream from its great confluence with the Colorado.

View up toward the Doll House from Spanish Bottom.

Historic inscription along the Colorado River at Capsize Rapid.

Running through Cataract Canyon on the Colorado.

The Kolb brothers (Emery and Ellsworth) left their names on a wall (river right) in the Big Drop Rapids.

At the end of the seven-day raft trip, we are met by our planes and fly back to Moab over the same country we just floated through. Here is an arm of Lake Powell in North Canyon.

The airstrip is visible here center left.

Flying over the Land of Standing Rocks in Canyonlands National Park.

The Turk's Head (upper center) with the Green River winding around it.

Come with me in 2015!