TL;DR
The Inca Trail is amazing, go do it.
Thoughts
Everything is awesome. Everything is stairs. Well, not everything. Probably 75% is stairs. I’m not even sure if I can articulate how amazing it is to be up in the Andes. This is coming from someone with zero mountaineer experience and who’s only spent time in the Sierras. But these were mountains. Glacier capped rugged mountains.
The Inca Trail or Camino Inka is a fantastic way to learn a little bit more about the Inca civilization, hike in the Andes, and ultimately see Machu Picchu. I wouldn’t have done it any other way. The only way you are allowed on the Inca Trail is with a guide which is understandable. Its a very popular route so reservations have to be made about~6 months in advance. The benefits of the guided hike is that they take care of all the permits and transportation, and in our case, provided porters to carry our stuff. Yup, we went glamping in the Andes. Not something we were used to, but more often than not, its how the Inca Trail is done it seems like. We had large group, 14 people, so having a private trek was cost effective. We used Enigma Peru as our trekking company and couldn’t be happier with their services and the wealth of knowledge of their guides. They made it fun and worry free.
We left Cusco very early in the morning to bus to the trail head by the Urubamba River. We tried to sleep but it was hard due to the bumpy ride. It was dawn as we approached our final stop, Enigma’s basecamp. We groggly ate breakfast and did any last minute preparations. The mist slowly cleared to reveal a mountainous valley along the river. Down the street was the first checkpoint and entry onto the Inca Trail. We went through the checkpoint, crossed the river and were on our way. The beginning portion of the trail winds along the river, past various houses and farms. Each of the houses seemed to have their own restroom available for travelers for the cost of 1 Sol. Not far in, is the elevation map for the trail and the various campsites and mountain passes. Here you can further prepare yourself for what is coming.
Our itinerary for the first day was 17km (10.5mi) from the trail head to Llulluchampa which sits at 12,631ft. The first few miles were pretty flat, up until we got to the ruins of Llactapata. A terraced city that sits at a geological fork. To the left of the city is the pilgrimage Inca Trail (which we were on). To the right of the city is the shorter, commercial route to Machu Piccu. From there we started upwards. Always upwards, until we got to Llulluchampa. This is where my shortcomings in writing become more clear. Hiking is such an incredible sensory experience that I find it incredibly difficult to put into words. How do you describe an entirely new environment that you are simultaneously in awe of and laboring through? As we climbed higher, the percentage of stone steps increased. Its pretty impressive how many singular stone steps are actually on this trail. The rocks are not from the mountain itself, they are from elsewhere. I am always thoroughly impressed with what ancient civilizations did. Things that seem God-like even with today’s technologies considering all they had was a mass amount of people’s efforts and maybe a strong grasp of geometry and cause and effect. It makes me feel weak. Especially as I took one step at a time with the entirety of my focus on breathing. Llulluchampa sits partially up the way to Dead Woman’s Pass, the highest point of the trail. The jagged peaks surround the campsite covered in snow with Mt Veronica looming directly in front of the camp. No wonder the Inca revered the glaciers. How could you not?
Day 2 consisted of 15km (9.3mi) to Phuyupatamarca. The first endever of the day was to get
over Dead Woman’s Pass. We were lucky to be treated to blue skies and some low lying clouds. One of my friends did this trail same time of the year and got treated to a freak blizzard. The morning was beautiful and the clouds temporarily cleared as we enjoyed the view from the pass. Felt pretty accomplished to reach the pass which sits at 13,700ft, then felt pretty annoyed having to go down into the
following Pacaymayo valley (11,800ft) only to have to crest the next pass, Abra Runkurakay, at 13,000ft. But by then, we were getting pretty used to the altitude. It wasn’t quite as difficult to sustain a descent pace. We still had one more valley and one more pass to get to before camp though. Luckily, Abra Phuyupatamarca was relatively easy to go up. You finally break out of the valley and are treated to what I assume are vistas, however all we saw was fog/clouds. This is probably one of the few parts of the trail that actually have shear drops on one side. Nothing we weren’t used to though. We got up to Phuyupatamarca right before sunset. Several other trekking groups were also there so a handful of us perched on the rock above camp wishing for the clouds to part. I was able to snap a few photos before the next wave of clouds rolled in but then resigned myself to the cold and went to the meal tent.
Day 3 began around 3:30am. The downside of the 3 day trek is that you do a fair amount of hiking on the last day to get to Machu Picchu. 11km (8.3mi) all downhill. We hiked down 1000s of stone steps in the dark. When the sun finally rose we were in a tropical jungle and then it started to rain. Back at a more reasonable elevation, our spirits were pretty high. We were excited to finally be making it to our destination.
Those last 8 miles seemed to drone on though. The Sungate was our final marker before you drop down into Machu Picchu. It seemed to never come. Somewhere around mile 6 is a very steep stone structure that we thought was the Sungate but to no avail. The steps were probably built on a 45 degree angle. I wasn’t sure whether to climb using my hands or just to walk. We finally reached the real Sungate only to find zero sun and a whole lot of fog. As the whisps flew buy we woulc catch glimpses of the massive valley below, glimpses of a river, of some train tracks, and every now and then Machu Picchu itself. We hung around at the Sungate for a while. It had been a long hike down. My legs felt sort of like jelly. By the time we actually started moving, the low clouds had burned off and the sun was shining bright. We meandered down toward Machu Picchu and were immediately hit by wave after wave of tourists. But weren’t we tourists? Yeah, but we felt like we had done something to earn our way there at least. It was pretty satisfying actually. I feel like if I had just show up on a bus like everyone else it wouldn’t have been as fun. Its like Disney Land on some remote mountain. Lines of people with cameras and all the food is expensive. At least that’s what its sort of turned into. I’m glad some areas are off limits to people. It would be too sad to see something that’s lasted this long turn to ruin because of tourist stampede. Machu Picchu itself is quiet beautiful actually. The whole area is very lush with aqueducts bringing mountain spring water into the city. The amount of thought that went into choosing this site is astounding. There are terraces for farming. A quarry for building materials. An astronomy tower with windows that line up with the sunrise for winter and summer solstice. I wonder what it was like to live there. I’m so blessed to have had the chance to visit and to hike the Inca Trail. This is why I love travelling.
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