Yes, we survived the Inka Trail. And let me tell you, that trail is challenging. The Inka Trail is 45km, approximately 28 miles, spread over 4 days. It really doesn’t sound that bad, but when you add in the altitude; the more than 3,000 steps (in one day); steep drop offs; and stones that are slippery when wet; it quickly becomes one of the more challenging things we’ve taken on.
Day One – Our 5am pickup time was the start of our journey. We made a brief stop for breakfast and to purchase any last minute supplies. Then it was on to kilometer 82 and the start of the hike. We organized our gear and the chief porter weighed the duffle being passed to our personal porter. We were only allowed to give him 6kgs or around 13 pounds. Really didn’t allow us to give him much. The sleeping bag and sleeping pad take up close to half that allotment.
Kilometer 82 starts at 2,600 meters (8,320 ft) and after having our passports checked and crossing the bridge, we started uphill right away. Already, the porters were dashing by us on the trail. This was our easy day, we started hiking as a group and would stop for occasional breaks and explanations by the guides for points of interest along the way.
Coming into our lunch spot, our porters all lined up and clapped as we came in. We had made it half way through our first day. We were treated to a gourmet lunch by our chef, Jesus. We hiked on through the afternoon and came into our camping spot for the night. On the trees were balloons and streamers, fireworks started going off and I thought this is some greeting for the end of our first day. I would later find out later how very wrong I was. Peru Treks works with the local people who allow us to camp in their backyard. This is in exchange for us purchasing items that they have for sale. Which some of our group quickly took advantage of the beer she had for sale. We sat down for another excellent meal and we’re informed the music we were hearing was for a Mother’sDay celebration. Mother’s Day has great significance in Peruvian culture. So, this party, started about 5pm and lasted until the wee hours of the morning. This did not bode well for any of us hikers as we had an early wake up call and not a lot of sleep.
Day Two – We began this day at 3,000m (9,843 ft) and climbing to the high point “Dead Woman’s Pass” at 4,200m (13,780 ft). A gain of almost 4,000 ft and meant 5 hours of climbing including many steps. Will graciously took some of the weight from my pack and slowly but surely our group made it up. Warmi Wañusqa, so named as it resembles a woman when looking from the valley below. This was a tough day for the porters as well. They were dripping sweat and pausing to rest their packs. Then it was another two hours down to our campsite at Pacaymayo.
Day Three – Our longest day of hiking, covering almost 12 miles. Back uphill out of the campsite for another hour or so, in the rain. The steps from hell still looming ahead of us. This was also one of the most beautiful sections of the hike. We hiked through a rainforest and had amazing views of the Sacred Valley. But, the undoing of most of us was the more than 3,000 uneven stone steps down that became very slick when wet. The majority of our group ended up falling at some point, including me, of course.
This was also another difficult day for Will. He is afraid of heights, which apparently, the Inkas were not. The Inka Trail was built mainly with the granite rocks on the edges of mountains. So, you are walking along a cliff edge for the majority of the day. Needless to say, you won’t see him pictured in many of our group photos as most of those were taken at the overlooks. It became a familiar question, one of the guides would ask, “Where’s Will?”, and my response was always “down”.
Day Four – Finally Machu Picchu! Our final day started incredibly early with a 3:30am wake up call. The porters would be leaving us and needed to have the entire camp broken down by 4:30. They had an hour hike to the train, which left at 5:30. Meanwhile, all the hikers got in line waiting for the gate to open at 5:30. We had roughly an hour hike to the Sun Gate, which offered our first glimpse of Machu Picchu. Got incredibly lucky, as we had a beautiful sunny day. Machu Picchu is amazing, but those of us that got to hike on the path that so many had traveled before, would probably agree, that the greatest reward was the journey itself.
