Packing for Six Days Between 750m and 2,600m

The question we get most before a trip isn't about the rafting or the riding — it's what to actually put in the bag. Fair enough: over six nights the route moves from 750 metres at the valley floor to 2,600 metres near the Sosneado ruins, and back down again, which is a bigger swing than most itineraries admit to in one week.

The short version: you're not packing for a mountain expedition, and you're not packing for a beach week either. You're packing for a Cuyo high-desert spring or summer, where the days run dry and sun-sharp and the temperature drops fast once the sun is behind the ridge — more so the higher the day's stage runs.

What to actually bring

Trekking and mountain-biking clothing and footwear are the two things worth getting right before you land — broken-in trail shoes or boots, and layers you can add and shed through a single afternoon rather than one heavy jacket for the whole trip. A light insulating layer earns its space for the evenings at altitude, even in the warmer months; a change of dry clothes for the end of a river day is the other thing people forget and then wish they hadn't.

Everything that touches the water — wetsuits, helmets, life vests, the kayaks and packrafts themselves — is already sorted. Bring a swimsuit and let the gear list stop there for the water days.

That's a deliberate split: technical clothing for the trekking, biking and horseback days is personal enough — fit, break-in, what you're already comfortable moving in — that we leave it to you. Anything specialized for the water is equipment we're already responsible for getting right, so it comes with the trip rather than your luggage.

Sun, altitude, and the one thing people underpack

Sun protection is worth taking more seriously than the season implies — high-altitude sun at 1,400–2,600m is stronger than the temperature suggests, and several of the days run long and exposed. A hat and real sunscreen do more for how you feel by Day 4 than almost anything else on this list. Past that: this isn't a cold-weather trip, but at 2,600m even in summer, mornings start closer to a jacket than a t-shirt.