Day 1, Inka Trail

Day 1, Inka Trail, Perú (5/9/2012)

In early May of 2012 we spent two weeks in the incredibly beautiful country of Perú. One of the highlights was our four-day hike along 25 miles of the Inka Trail to Machu Picchu, the most famous trek in all of South America. The hike, and especially Day 2, was some of the toughest hiking we have ever done. At elevations as high as 14,000 feet, we climbed and descended thousands of feet every day, the majority of the time on the original Inka stones and steps with heights anywhere from a few inches to nearly a foot. The scenery was breathtaking. Our trek was through Wayki Trek, with Franklin as our guide. There were two other hikers with our party, the wonderful Becky and Colin from the UK. We also had two cooks and three porters to lug the tents, food and cooking items. We hauled our clothes and toiletries.

Day 1: After a 2.5 hour drive from Cusco to the trailhead at Piscacucho we were anxious to get started after sorting our gear in some señora's backyard. After checking in with our passports, and crossing over the Urubamba River, we began climbing immediately. The path on Day 1 was mostly sand with a smattering of steps, and paralleled the river (and railway across the river) for the first half. After veering away from the river we reached the archeological site of Patallacta far below. Next came lunch at Tarayoc, followed by more hiking before reaching our overnight campsite in Huayllabamba.

Total distance hiked today was nearly 8 miles in about 6 hours.

Continue to Day 2

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