Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

Whoa..that was tougher than expected. Four days of hiking peaking over 13,829 feet in altitude before descending into Machu Picchu.

On one hand, Carter and I looked around and saw the average age of other hikers doing the trail was early twenties and we were quite proud of ourselves… on the other hand, we had just day packs and trekking poles while our Andean porters lugged up to 60 lbs each (one of them being 49 years old) literally jogging past us up the trail to the next campsite while we gasped for air. Gasping for air while hiking, during breaks, during dinner and then at night in our tent while trying to sleep despite three days of acclimatizing in Cusco, Peru beforehand.

The trail is beautiful and steep as it crawls through the mountains and passes through several Inca ruins and spectacular views setting the stage for Machu Picchu.

Our guide, Sabino, was half crazy and left us laughing many times with his off the wall comments. Every time we would round a corner and come upon another spectacular ruin, he would exclaim ‘Jesus Christ!’, as though he were seeing it for the first time despite 150 previous trips up the trail. In the steepest sections where we were in a four point stance (crawling) going up the inca stone stairs and trying not to pitch off into the valleys below, our guide would be running up and down with his hands in his pocket chuckling. When he was thirsty, he would grab a drink from a stream alongside the trail and then remind us that we could not do so because we had ‘baby stomachs’.

The final morning, we woke at 3:30am and hiked to Machu Picchu in the darkness to beat the crowds and greet the sun (it was cloudy).

Machu Picchu – amazing as advertised. But crowded with visitors and we soon missed the solitude of the trail and the opportunities we enjoyed exploring other inca villages by ourselves during the previous four days.

Harry