{"id":2912,"date":"2013-01-21T01:47:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-20T19:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/?p=2912"},"modified":"2013-02-27T19:56:51","modified_gmt":"2013-02-27T13:56:51","slug":"to-serkhe-kkota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/2013\/01\/21\/to-serkhe-kkota\/","title":{"rendered":"To Serkhe Kkota"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"_MG_9776\"<\/a>This is a great little trip, especially if you hike it.\u00a0 And since there is also a road, you might be able to get someone to drive and that way you only need to hike in one direction.<\/p>\n

Laguna Serkhe Kkota (Q’uta is Aymara for lake, and gets masacred in place names throughout this part of Bolivia.\u00a0 I’ve seen it as Kkota, Khota, Kota and Cota.\u00a0 Serkhe, though, is a mystery.) is a beautiful lake up one of the branches off of the Khallapa River Valley.\u00a0 It’s a large lake sitting at 15,750 feet of altitude.<\/p>\n

\"Upper<\/a>

Upper Portion of the Kormiri Falls<\/p><\/div>\n

There are two routes to Serkhe Kkota.\u00a0 Both start Up The Khallapa River Valley<\/a>, as described in that post.\u00a0 I’m attaching a .gdb file<\/a> you can use to view the routes on your GPS or Google Earth.\u00a0 Continuing on past Represa Hampaturi, you will find a small, poor road branching off to the right.\u00a0 The turn is at about 2.3 miles beyond your first sighting of Challa Pata, and after a couple of switchbacks over the valley of the Rio Uma Pelada.\u00a0 This road will take you, in only a half mile of rather poor track, to the fairly impressive Kormiri Falls. Beyond the falls the road looks more challenging than I am interested in, but the falls themselves are worth the detour, and if the road is not one you want to brave, the walk is short and the climb (about 300 feet, more or less smoothly distributed over the half mile) is not too challenging.<\/p>\n

\"Profile,<\/a>From the parking spot below the Kormiri falls, it is a very nice hike up to Laguna Serkhe. That said, the hike is definitely steeper, in places.\u00a0 In 2.7 miles you gain some 1,100 feet of elevation, and some parts, especially at the beginning, are a bit of a scramble.<\/p>\n

\"(click<\/a>

(click to enlarge map)<\/p><\/div>\n

The hike takes you over the waterfall and then through a lovely valley past a couple of llama herders’ homes.\u00a0 At the top of the waterfall is a mini-slot canyon with deep pools at the bottom, which would be very enticing, if you didn’t know that the water is recent glacier melt and probably not much above 32 degrees Fahrenheit (that’s 0 degrees Celsius, for you metric-lovers).<\/p>\n

\"_MG_9718\"<\/a>

Gumercindo, his wife Lucia, and daughter Jocelyn tend Gumercindo’s uncle’s llamas, earning a few animals to start their own flock. They moved up into the mountains from the shore of the Titicaca to earn their livelihood, but on my last trip their neighbors told me that they had returned to the lake.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The drive is beautiful in its own way. \u00a0Continue on along the main road, passing right under the dam that holds back Laguna Aiuan Kkota.\u00a0 Just after climbing out from under the dam, you find another right turn.\u00a0 This road is slightly better than the first, perhaps, but I suppose that is a matter of taste.\u00a0 It climbs up over the ridge between the two valleys, so you get some breathtaking views (or long potential drops, as some might think of them).<\/p>\n

\"Tatyana,<\/a>

Tatyana, Aliciya and Myrna enjoying the lake<\/p><\/div>\n

On the other side of the ridge, two miles from the turnoff, you will come to a gate and a small, unnamed, reservoir.\u00a0 The gate has been open whenever I have been there, and one of the locals told me it was constructed by miners prospecting above, but that locals objected to it being locked, so it never is.\u00a0 From the gate, the road continues on for another mile to Serkhe Kkota.\u00a0 There is a well-used camping spot on the side of the road marked in the .gdb file, and this would not be a bad place to spend a night or two.\u00a0 From the looks of the canyon on Google Earth, one could probably continue up the canyon to the glacier perched on the side of the mountain to the east of the lake.<\/p>\n

The lake, like most up here, is habitat for a variety of waterfowl.\u00a0 Among those I have been able to identify have been Andean Geese, Giant Coots, and Andean Gulls.<\/p>\n

More photos are available at: Larry Memmott Photography<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Andean<\/a>

Andean Geese<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a great little trip, especially if you hike it.\u00a0 And since there is also a road, you might be able to get someone to drive and that way you only need to hike in one direction. Laguna Serkhe Kkota (Q’uta is Aymara for lake, and gets masacred in place names throughout this part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,61,8,60,58,63,100,57,91,59],"tags":[15,187,172,154,169,173,168,55,81,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2912"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3422,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912\/revisions\/3422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}