Next up on the hit parade was a 4 day hike on the Inca Trail with the final destination being Machu Picchu. We started out inauspiciously as they agency told us to be ready for our pickup half an hour earlier than we needed to be which isn’t a big deal until you realize that we were told to be ready at 5 am. Then the bus we were on didn’t have any heat and you could actually see your breathe. After we got to the trailhead and the rain stopped the hiking was really pretty good. Unfortunately when you hike the Inca Trail during the rainy season there is a good chance you are going to get rain and for 3 of the 4 days that is exactly what happened. Luckily the rain normally only lasted an hour or two so it really wasn’t that bad.
The hike…all in all not very long…only about 23 miles total and that distance is split into 4 days. What makes it so difficult is that the hike is at elevation and you gain and lose a lot of elevation throughout the trip. The trail starts out at about 8600 feet and then climbs to the highest point on the trail at Dead Women’s Pass (named for the shape of the mountains in that area not because a dead woman was found there) at close to 13,800 feet and then drops back down to Machu Picchu which is at about 8,000 feet. I decided that hiring a personal porter to carry our sleeping bags and clothes wasn’t necessary so I became the porter for Jessica and my gear. In the end it was a good work out and I probably would do the same thing again but man it definitely made for a much more challenging hike and at times I think that I looked just like a porter with the load that I was carrying. The path in general was in really good shape. The only time that it was challenging was when we walked on the original Inca trail because they laid down an actually rock road that was a little uneven or had uneven rocks jutting out so you just had to be more careful about where you were walking. The path goes up and around a couple of different ridges and passes a total of 6 Inca ruin along the way.
Perhaps the highlight of the 4 days was having the ruins of Winay Wayna almost to myself. After spending so much time around other people (the government allows 200 tourists and 300 porters/guides to start the Inca Trail everyday but there weren’t that many people starting the day that we started) it was amazing to be one of only 4 people walking around this amazing site. The site was also on a ridge with another ridge off in the distance and a large waterfall cascading down the hillside. It just made me sit back for a couple of minutes and just really appreciate the surroundings and marvel that people 500 years ago lived and worked in such a beautiful place. It definitely helped me ground myself in the setting and get out of the “I have to hike from point A to point B as fast as possible” mentality…which wasn’t the goal but I kept finding myself in that must finish as soon as possible mentality. I guess you could say it helped me sit back and smell the roses or orchids in this case. In general I really just like looking at the ruins and the terraces at the various sites but in this location I was simply just in awe and really appreciated being on the Inca Trail in a way that I had not felt up to that point.
Machu Picchu itself was still very impressive. Unfortunately the 3rd night I woke up with an upset stomach (my stomach had been upset off and on for the prior 2 weeks) and I really wasn’t feeling good the whole day that we were exploring the site. Add to that a 4am start and about 1.5 hours of rain to start our day and that just makes for a very long and tough day so I don’t think that I fully appreciated the beauty of Machu Picchu. At the 1st viewpoint at the Sun Gate, a ruin above Machu Picchu where you are supposed to watch the sunrise over the site, we were completely socked in by fog. As we hiked the final stretch to the site the clouds started to clear and by the end of the morning it was perfectly sunny. I was most impressed by the sheer size of the site…my guess is that the site encompasses about 300 vertical feet of land on top all the horizontal space that it occupies…it was by far the largest ruin that I visited. The site was composed of terraces (once again for food production and acclimatization purposes), temples to various gods, and residential areas. Even though I am sure that there were no trees on the terraces during the Inca time I really liked the large trees that were growing throughout the site
Machu Picchu is perched on a ridge and is surrounded by numerous other rounded peaks and ridges. It is truly a beautiful location and I can definitely understand why the Incas decided to build a temple/village on this site. It is even more impressive because the site was not destroyed by the Spanish as the Incas were somehow able to keep the site hidden from them even after the Spanish had overthrown them. I wish that I was feeling better and had more energy to explore the site but after our 3 hour guided tour of the site I was just exhausted. After a nap I just really enjoyed hanging on by a terrace and looking out over the site and the sacred valley. I think that if I ever go back I would definitely just spend another day at the site and stay in the town below the ruins so that I could really just sit back and fully take in and appreciate the site.
Now for a couple of random topics:
Porters…the government now limits the amount of weight that they are able to carry to around 50 pounds; however, that does not take away from what they do at all. It was very common to be passed by a porter running (literally jogging) by on his way to the next break or camping site. Remember he was running with a 50 pound pack that was normally just strapped around his back with a piece of cloth rather than a proper backpack and was an awkward shape (they carried everything from our tents to propane tanks to food). Add to that that we were at elevations ranging from 8,000 to almost 14,000 feet and that most of the porters were wearing sandels or soccer shoes and I still marvel at what they accomplished. See the attached picture of a porter to get a better idea of what I am talking about.
Services…perhaps the best prepared meals I had for an adventure trip ever and this includes the food on my white water rafting trip in the Grand Canyon. Made even more impressive considering that all the food and gear (including propane tanks like the ones that are attached to your bbqs at home) was carried around by the porters for 4 days. We had a separate eating tent complete with tables and little stools which was very crazy but definitely appreciated on day 3 when we were sheltered from a major rainstorm as we were eating lunch. Most meals included at least 4 courses including appetizers, soup, and desert and there was plenty of food so I was definitely well fed which is perhaps the most important thing for me on trips like this. Plus we had brand new 4 person tents (but only shared by 2 people), really friendly porters and guides, and some nice people (except for a couple of very loud and annoying people but I can forget about them now) and that makes for a great trip. Definitely a lot more upscale than what I was expecting even though we went with a company that caters towards budget travelers.
All in all a great 4 day trip and definitely a highlight of my 6 months on the road.
Love
Scott
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