Cambios

A lot of the incorporated trails are "opportunistic trails". This means, that these trails do not provide the most efficient connection but that routes were chosen that minimize the burden of building and maintaining these trails. This often results in detours each time the route is traveled compared to an hypothetical "optimized" route. In example trails may climb up a ridge simply to avoid overgrown areas further down. If sediment deposits next to a river eliminate the need to cut a trail through the forest, than the visible trail disappears and leads over these sediments even if they are occasionally flooded and more cumbersome to walk on. If there are rocks blocking the leveled route, than the trail climbs up and down just to circumvent these obstacles. In barely any place trails are built with brute force but are "opportunistic" in this sense.  Keep in mind that locals rarely ever walk; they move on horseback. All the physical effort that ascents and descents require are done by the horses. Therefore some trails involve a lot of "pointless up and down" simply because it meant fewer burden when initially creating the trail. Also river crossings are less hassle on horseback; it’s not the riders feet that get wet. For this reason some trails switch frequently the river sides just to avoid minor obstacles that are located on alternating sides of the river.  In the Alps and other frequently visited mountain ranges some very scenic panorama trails were build that sneak on a mostly constant altitude through the mountains to attract tourists onto scenic trails for an effortless walk. I’m not aware of any such trail in the Andes. Locals established trails solely to get from one place to another; never to have an enjoyable walk. But where a high altitude trail on a ridge above the tree line provides a good connection there you find such routes; not to please you but because they happen to be the simplest option.  Only in a few national parks such former horse trails became official hiking trailswith occasional signposts and trail markers to keep visitors on the approved routes.