Alright, alright, I know you've heard this before, but the Inca Trail was DEFINITELY the most challenging trek to date. We decided to do the 4 day/3 night trek over the New Year. What better way to bring in the New Year than to be out in the middle of nowhere?
The Inca Trail is part of the 23,000 km of roads built by the Incas throughout South America. This 45 kilometer trek winds through a variety of altitudes, ecosystems, and climates. One day you're in a cloud forest, the next you're in the high Andes (4200 meters), and finally you wind down into the edge of the jungle to the huge Inca city of Machu Picchu. Throughout the four day hike you encounter other Inca ruins as well.
We started the trek on the 30th of December. We figured we should be pretty prepared for the trek given the amount of hiking we had been doing throughout Peru. Our guide from Colca Canyon made it sound like the Inka Trail was difficult, but not as hard as the canyon. The only factor that would be new to us on the Inka Trail was carrying four days worth of clothes, water, a mattress, and sleeping bag.
As of 2001, hikers are no longer able to walk the trail independently...everyone has to go with a guide through an agency. While we didn't book the high-end option where the porters carry absolutely everything for you, our company's porters did carry the food, kitchen, and tents. Even without having to carry these items we were both still hauling about 10 kilograms (22 pounds)...water is heavy.
It's the rainy season in the mountains of Peru right now, so we had our fingers crossed for good weather. The night before we left it poured down rain, but the morning was absolutely gorgeous. We were REALLY hoping that our luck would hold out.
The first day went smoothly. There was only a light dusting of rain when we stopped to eat lunch and the inclines were pretty mellow. It took a little bit of time to get used to carrying the extra weight on our backs, but by the end of the day we were pretty used to it.
The second day of the trail was supposed to be the most challenging because you climb up to 4200 meters to cross the Warmiwañusqa pass. One very common problem for people on this day is altitude sickness. We were well aware of the affects of altitude from our trek in Huaraz so we had arrived in Cuzco 3 days before our trek began. As it turns out, not everybody had been so careful. The other common problen for hikers on the second day is lack of conditioning. The combination of the two looked pretty painful.
The climb on the second day is divided up by two camps. It takes about an hour and a half to get to the first, another hour and a half to get to the second, and then there's a final hour and half to the top. From our previous hikes, we had learned that it's best to keep a slow, steady pace when hiking at high altitude. Apparantely, not everyone was savvy to this concept either. While we were walking up the first section of the climb people we already blowing chunks off the side of the mountain.
At points, the climb was pretty painful because rather than just a steady incline of switchbacks, the Inca laid stone stairs most of the way up the mountain. These weren't your regulation size steps either. Some of the sections used huge rocks. Climbing up these with an extra twenty pounds on our backs didn't tickle.
Well, we started into to the last hour and a half section when the skies decided to open up on us. At first, it was a light rain, but it quickly escalated to a solid downpour and when we started to approach the pass we were being pelted by hail. By the time we got to the top of the pass, even with all of our waterproof gear, we were totally soaked and freezing. Our hands were so cold that the finger nails hurt. We both quickly got familiar with the motivational idea of "one step closer".
We continued another hour walking to get down to camp for the night...New Year's Eve. Thanks to our backpack rain covers, the rain hadn't totally soak through our backpacks and gotten all of our clothes wet...most people on the trail couldn't say the same thing. After warming up in our tent we had dinner and brought in the New Year at about 8pm with the finest box of red wine you can buy.
New Year's day was absolutely gorgeous. In the morning the sun was out and we were able to dry out most of our gear. We could see the glaciers on the other side of the mountain range framed by fluffy white clouds. We continued on the trail up to one more peak and then started the drop down into the cloud forest and the jungle. The views were absolutely STUNNING! You've gotta check out our pictures.
We made it to camp most of the way dry on the third and final night. Our legs and knees were pretty shot because we, basically, walked down slippery, lopsided stairs the entire day. We got to bed pretty early because we had to wake up at 4am the next day to make the final push for Machu Picchu.
At about 1am we both woke-up to pounding rain on our tent. About another hour later I woke up soaking wet...it was raining so hard that the water was penetrating our tent. We still had our fingers crossed that the rain would let up before we had to get on the road at 4am.
Lady luck shone down on us and the rain stopped just as we were getting out of our tent. We ate a quick pancake and then started the hour hike to the Sun Gate that looks down onto Machu Picchu. We were able to ditch our sleeping bag and mattress because the porters had to take them back to the company and with the lighter backpacks we HAULED!
We were in the first small group of people to make it to the Sun Gate and thank goodness for that. We were actually able to see Machu Picchu...we were both totally stoked! A lot of people walk for 4 days to see this view and all they get is fog. It was such a great feeling to come over the top of the mountain and see Machu Picchu with its surrounding mountains laid out before us. We enjoyed the AWESOME view for about a half hour before the fog rolled back in. Unfortunately, the people who were too far behind us didn't get to see the city from the Sun Gate.
The ruins of Machu Picchu were impressive, but Brandon and I both agree that its surrounding scenery is was made this place truly amazing. It's crazy that these people were able to construct this huge citadel out of granite on the side of sheer, steep mountains. The pictures we took are beautiful, but they don't do this place justice.
After wandering around the wet ruins for a few hours we caught the bus into the nearby town of Aguas Calientes and went for a much needed dip in the thermal baths. From there we were on a train back to Cuzco. By the time we made it back to our hostel, we were both completely exhausted.
While thousands of travelers walk the Inca Trail every year, it was still a unique and stunning hike. We both definitely felt accomplished when we took the final steps into Machu Picchu.
The Inca Trail is part of the 23,000 km of roads built by the Incas throughout South America. This 45 kilometer trek winds through a variety of altitudes, ecosystems, and climates. One day you're in a cloud forest, the next you're in the high Andes (4200 meters), and finally you wind down into the edge of the jungle to the huge Inca city of Machu Picchu. Throughout the four day hike you encounter other Inca ruins as well.
We started the trek on the 30th of December. We figured we should be pretty prepared for the trek given the amount of hiking we had been doing throughout Peru. Our guide from Colca Canyon made it sound like the Inka Trail was difficult, but not as hard as the canyon. The only factor that would be new to us on the Inka Trail was carrying four days worth of clothes, water, a mattress, and sleeping bag.
As of 2001, hikers are no longer able to walk the trail independently...everyone has to go with a guide through an agency. While we didn't book the high-end option where the porters carry absolutely everything for you, our company's porters did carry the food, kitchen, and tents. Even without having to carry these items we were both still hauling about 10 kilograms (22 pounds)...water is heavy.
It's the rainy season in the mountains of Peru right now, so we had our fingers crossed for good weather. The night before we left it poured down rain, but the morning was absolutely gorgeous. We were REALLY hoping that our luck would hold out.
The first day went smoothly. There was only a light dusting of rain when we stopped to eat lunch and the inclines were pretty mellow. It took a little bit of time to get used to carrying the extra weight on our backs, but by the end of the day we were pretty used to it.
The second day of the trail was supposed to be the most challenging because you climb up to 4200 meters to cross the Warmiwañusqa pass. One very common problem for people on this day is altitude sickness. We were well aware of the affects of altitude from our trek in Huaraz so we had arrived in Cuzco 3 days before our trek began. As it turns out, not everybody had been so careful. The other common problen for hikers on the second day is lack of conditioning. The combination of the two looked pretty painful.
The climb on the second day is divided up by two camps. It takes about an hour and a half to get to the first, another hour and a half to get to the second, and then there's a final hour and half to the top. From our previous hikes, we had learned that it's best to keep a slow, steady pace when hiking at high altitude. Apparantely, not everyone was savvy to this concept either. While we were walking up the first section of the climb people we already blowing chunks off the side of the mountain.
At points, the climb was pretty painful because rather than just a steady incline of switchbacks, the Inca laid stone stairs most of the way up the mountain. These weren't your regulation size steps either. Some of the sections used huge rocks. Climbing up these with an extra twenty pounds on our backs didn't tickle.
Well, we started into to the last hour and a half section when the skies decided to open up on us. At first, it was a light rain, but it quickly escalated to a solid downpour and when we started to approach the pass we were being pelted by hail. By the time we got to the top of the pass, even with all of our waterproof gear, we were totally soaked and freezing. Our hands were so cold that the finger nails hurt. We both quickly got familiar with the motivational idea of "one step closer".
We continued another hour walking to get down to camp for the night...New Year's Eve. Thanks to our backpack rain covers, the rain hadn't totally soak through our backpacks and gotten all of our clothes wet...most people on the trail couldn't say the same thing. After warming up in our tent we had dinner and brought in the New Year at about 8pm with the finest box of red wine you can buy.
New Year's day was absolutely gorgeous. In the morning the sun was out and we were able to dry out most of our gear. We could see the glaciers on the other side of the mountain range framed by fluffy white clouds. We continued on the trail up to one more peak and then started the drop down into the cloud forest and the jungle. The views were absolutely STUNNING! You've gotta check out our pictures.
We made it to camp most of the way dry on the third and final night. Our legs and knees were pretty shot because we, basically, walked down slippery, lopsided stairs the entire day. We got to bed pretty early because we had to wake up at 4am the next day to make the final push for Machu Picchu.
At about 1am we both woke-up to pounding rain on our tent. About another hour later I woke up soaking wet...it was raining so hard that the water was penetrating our tent. We still had our fingers crossed that the rain would let up before we had to get on the road at 4am.
Lady luck shone down on us and the rain stopped just as we were getting out of our tent. We ate a quick pancake and then started the hour hike to the Sun Gate that looks down onto Machu Picchu. We were able to ditch our sleeping bag and mattress because the porters had to take them back to the company and with the lighter backpacks we HAULED!
We were in the first small group of people to make it to the Sun Gate and thank goodness for that. We were actually able to see Machu Picchu...we were both totally stoked! A lot of people walk for 4 days to see this view and all they get is fog. It was such a great feeling to come over the top of the mountain and see Machu Picchu with its surrounding mountains laid out before us. We enjoyed the AWESOME view for about a half hour before the fog rolled back in. Unfortunately, the people who were too far behind us didn't get to see the city from the Sun Gate.
The ruins of Machu Picchu were impressive, but Brandon and I both agree that its surrounding scenery is was made this place truly amazing. It's crazy that these people were able to construct this huge citadel out of granite on the side of sheer, steep mountains. The pictures we took are beautiful, but they don't do this place justice.
After wandering around the wet ruins for a few hours we caught the bus into the nearby town of Aguas Calientes and went for a much needed dip in the thermal baths. From there we were on a train back to Cuzco. By the time we made it back to our hostel, we were both completely exhausted.
While thousands of travelers walk the Inca Trail every year, it was still a unique and stunning hike. We both definitely felt accomplished when we took the final steps into Machu Picchu.
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