Peru Part 1: Hiking the Inca Trail

I cannot believe it is already June! I had been looking forward to May, and all that I had planned for the month, for so long; it's hard to believe that Bottle Rock, John's graduation, and my and Cam's trip to Peru are all memories now. Peru was AMAZING, and the highlight was definitely our four day trek to Machu Picchu. I've had quite a few people ask me about our trip, so I thought it might be helpful to get into some of the details for anyone who might have Machu Picchu as a a bucket list item of their own. I'll break the trip into two posts, with this one covering the trek itself, and later on in the week I'll write about our experiences in Cusco, Aguas Calientes, and Lima.

Click to read more about/see pictures of our experience hiking the Inca Trail...

We booked our trip back in November through Peru Treks, which came recommended to me by my boss. By reading the site's FAQ, we realized that especially for summer-time treks (May-August, which is actually fall/winter in Peru) we needed to book at least 4-5 months in advance. A little further research into different trek companies iterated that you wanted to book with a company that:

a) had hikers acclimatizing in Cusco for at least two days prior to the trek start date (some made this optional which, according to my guide, is a recipe for disaster and hikers turning back).

b) cost at least $500. This price point seems to ensure that porters, or chasquis as we were encouraged to say, are treated and paid fairly.

My boss, Zac, was really the only person I talked to who had actually hiked the trail as opposed to taking the train from Cusco. While I appreciated his insight in booking our trip, he forgot to mention one thing. Hiking the Inca Trail is HARD!

Climbing the "Monkey Steps" on Day 4

The Peru Treks website (falsely) states that about 30% of hikers will hire 1/3 of a porter to carry personal belongings such as sleeping bag, sleeping roll, and a few clothing items. Of the sixteen members of our trek group, every woman, as well as the majority of men, hired a porter. On day 1 I carried about 20 pounds, Cam about 35, and as inexperienced backpackers, we were pretty miserable. Luckily we were able to hire local porters for the next two days, lightening our load by about 10-15 pounds each. I would definitely recommend hiring a chasqui, as the trip became soooo much more enjoyable once we were able to carry a lighter load.

Our packs on Day 1

Our group of 16 with the chasquis

The food was incredibly impressive and our cook, Benedicto, even managed to bake a cake using steam for our final dinner. Before each meal the chasquis would set up a tent, and then serve a 3-4 course meal starting with soup and ending with a cup of (usually coca leaf) tea. We got lucky with a pretty amazing group of people, which makes sense when you think about the type of person who chooses to book an outdoor adventure to one of the world's wonders for vacation. Most impressive was Tom, a 64 year old who unapologetically hiked at his own pace, never too far behind the pack and who made the trip completely his own.

No matter who you book with, the trip is going to look about the same for each of the four days. Day 1 was the most moderate - a little uphill, some downhill, and the most flat stretches compared to any of the other days. Had I not been carrying a gargantuan backpack, it might have even felt easy. Day 2 was really difficult as we climbed from 10,000 ft to 14,000 ft -- that's a lot of feet, and the altitude definitely affected people's stomachs, heads, and overall sense of well-being. Day 3 was my personal hardest because it ends with 2,000 steps downhill. The steps are called the "gringo killer" and they definitely killed this gringita, or at least my left knee - ouch.

Day 2

Dead Woman's Pass - 14,000ft.

On Day 4, we woke up at 3:30am to see the sunrise at Machu Picchu. I have to admit, I was pretty cranky waking up in the middle of the night, and my freshly injured knee was not cooperating. It was absolutely worth it to watch with aching muscles the sun rise over Machu Picchu, illuminating the ruins and the mountainsides, and to feel like we worked for the right to experience such beauty.

Our trek group