Location: Paradise

Latitude: -15.6383 S
Longitude: -71.6011 W


Alright, so Paradise may not have been all it was cracked up to be. 13,728 ft. at the bottom of one of the world’s deepest canyons, we slept on a lumpy mattress with little more than a thatched roof keeping out the near freezing temperatures after a knee-crimping all-day descent. This might not be everyone’s idea of Shangri-La but we were in heaven at the Paradise Oasis Lodge in Colca Canyon, Peru. Off the grid, out of range and public transportation limited to our own two feet, Paradise was the perfect place to test our limits and our TNF packs.

Loaded into our Altea and Alteo 35 liter packs was, most importantly, lots of water and sunscreen. With varying altitudes in the 16,000 feet range of the Colca Valley region, the dry air and thin atmosphere were not to be ignored. The deep pockets on the outside of the pack were great for fitting our oversized bottles and the mid-pack front pouch made accessing frequently used necessities easy. While temperatures at night and on the ridge were chilly, the heat of the day was a different story. The body of the pack was big enough to accommodate all of our layers as we stripped down during the day. A wide wind-tunnel between the pack and our bodies kept us from sweating which was much appreciated as the cold set in. Good division of storage space was critical as we rolled into camp and tried to find our gear in the dark. A divided center compartment as well as the big fold-over pocket on top meant that finding things where we packed them didn’t require digging into the abyss.

We arrived in this region of Peru, known for its rugged terrain, endangered condors and high mountain villages after a bumpy middle of the night ride from Arequipa in the very back of a passenger van. After stopping in the village of Chivay for a wood-fired breakfast of corn and ham pancakes and coca tea we headed down the trail. As the day-hikers retreated back to the top, we sank lower into the canyon. We crossed rope bridges, passed through abandoned villages with old Jesuit churches, and occasionally stopped for a snack of cactus fruit and a minute to take in the trail we had left behind up the mountain. Legs a bit shaky but happy to have made it, we spent the night at the bottom of the canyon and started the ascent when we woke at 4am.

Colca Canyon was just the start of the journey for the packs, and us! Over the next two-weeks we traveled from this arid outpost to rainy Cuzco, where we loaded our packs with hand-woven blankets, alpaca hats and custom boots. Wandering the streets with our rain-covers tightly attached, all of our shopping treasures stayed dry. From the rain to the mist, we descended into Machu Picchu, hip belts holding our gear tightly to our bodies as we climbed, sometimes hand-over foot backwards in time over the ancient ruins. The cool moisture of the Andes was a far cry from the rainforest we explored as we landed in Puerto Maldanado for our final stop in our Peru adventure. Three hours away from the nearest town by boat, foot and canoe we spent two nights on the oxbow lake, Sandoval. Home to endangered river otters, 21-foot long caiman and monkeys of all shapes and sizes we wandered through the jungle peering into the canopy for critters and spent evenings on a flat-bottom paddle boat gazing into the water at the reflective eyes that met our flashlights.

Peru is a mysterious place of many faces, terrains and climates. From tank-tops to fleeces our wardrobes and our gear had to be ready for anything. Aboard planes and trains, on mountain trails and through jungle terrain the Altea and Alteo packs let us explore without the fear that we would be unprepared for the surprises that awaited us at each new stop on our Peruvian path.

Mark Hamilton

TNF Georgetown