Two weeks ago, I got the chance to check off a major bucket list item: my 14-year-old daughter, Alison, and I hiked the epic Inca Trail in Peru that finishes at Machu Picchu. The whole trail is a 4-day, 26 mile hike, ebbing and flowing between 11,000 and 14,000 feet in elevation. It was an incredibly tough route, but also impossibly gorgeous. We were a long way from civilization and modern life — no sounds of cars or cell phone coverage. Here, I’ll share the literal ups and downs of this very special hike.
Where is the Inca Trail?
The Inca Trail runs from near Ollantaytambo, Peru (a town near Cusco) to Machu Picchu. The whole trek looks like this, mirroring the ups and downs of the hike itself.
Preparing for the Inca Trail Hike
The government of Peru requires that Inca Trail hikers go with a licensed guide and we chose Alpaca Expeditions. Alpaca had been recommended to me and has a stellar rating on TripAdvisor. We also noticed they had by far the most trekkers out on the trail. They really know what they’re doing and I can’t recommend them enough.
You must book several months in advance as each day the Peruvian government only issues 400 permits to hike the Inca Trail. Your outfitter will handle the permit details for you, carry your gear, and make you amazing meals along the way. We chose to hike in a group which had 15 hikers, 30 porters, a cook, and two guides. Because we had porters, all we had to carry each day was a daypack. That was more than enough when we were at 13,000 feet!
Each night, you sleep in tents in designated campsites. There are some bathrooms along the way and in the campsites, but, as our guide pointed out, the bathrooms you pay for (typically 1 sole each) are much cleaner than the free bathrooms. Just be aware that hiking the Inca Trail is not a glamorous event. You’ll be dying for a shower at the end and a bed with more padding than the Thermorest we had each night.
As for training for the hike, nothing we could do at home here in Madison, WI at our 873 feet (266 meters) of elevation could have prepared us fully for the Inca Trail hike. The best way to prepare is to go to Cusco, Peru and hike around at elevation for a few days or weeks. We got there two days in advance to tour Cusco and the Sacred Valley but I’d wished we spent more time at elevation before starting.
We did do one long hike her weekend for a couple of months before we left for Peru. Our hikes were between 5 and 8.5 miles. For most of them, we carried our pack with the items we’d have in it on the trek. We meant to get up to 10 miles, but life and the shorter trails in our area got in the way. I do think these hikes were helpful, if only to prove to me that my 14-year-old would, in fact, be just fine on this trek.
Inca Trail Hike – Day #1
Day #1 on the Inca Trail is a lovely hike. You’re on a dirt path with rolling hills and cacti on both sides of the trail. You begin by crossing the beginnings of the Amazon River and then you hike next to it most of the day.
There are plenty of rest stops, villages, clean bathrooms, and shops along the way. Many of the people that live along the trail get supplies by donkey. You can buy everything from mosquito repellant to ice cream to Incan beer on Day #1. That abundance of shopping opportunities dries up completely on Day #2, when the trail becomes steep (oh, so steep) and rocky and the houses disappear.
We then stopped for lunch in a slopping campground and had our first communal meal together as a group.
The food was wonderful the whole time. Most of is was Peruvian. We got soup each meal (which, we were convinced was just to keep us hydrated and replenish our salts) and then a variety of family-style dishes. There were a lot of potatoes, corn, quinoa, and vegetables. Plus, they would always serve us some kind of meat each day — chicken, beef, or even llama.
After lunch the trail got a bit more steep and the views became even better. We hiked a total of 8.5 miles that day and ended up in a remote camp.
Each night, we had “tea time” where our guide would tell us about the next day’s hike, followed by dinner, which we were very ready for after our long hikes. We also got to meet our entire team at this first camp. Each porter introduced themselves in either Quechua or Spanish, where they were from, what they were carrying, and how old they were. Most of the porters were older than me, some of them way older. And, as you can guess, they handled the trail a lot better than I did.
You’d think after all that hiking we’d have slept well, but I did not. That first night I heard everything from our neighbors talking to the porter in the next camp snoring. I must have gotten some sleep, though, because when it was time to wake up at 4:30am for Day #2, I was ready.
Inca Trail Hike – Day #2
Each day, we were awoken very early with a cup of coca tea. Yes, that coca, it’s tea made from the leaves of the plant from which we get cocaine. Many porters chew the leaves throughout the trail for energy, a tradition that is as old as the Incas themselves. I loved the tea, it did seem to give me some mild energy and rumor has it the tea helps you cope with the altitude. I needed a lot more than coca tea to help me with our Day #2 hike.
We had breakfast, packed up, and then we were off. Day #2 was the most difficult, brutal day of hiking I’ve ever experienced in my life (and I climbed Kilimanjaro which is 19,300 feet when I was 25). The path leads you straight up through a mountain pass, then down, then up another pass, then down to camp. It was 10 miles and around 4500 feet of elevation gain.
BUT, the trail was absolutely gorgeous. The path turns to stone and the caravans of donkeys and settlements disappear. At first, you’re hiking through a forest right next to waterfalls and streams before you pop out above the tree line for a gorgeous view of a mountain valley (complete with wild llamas, I might add).
We hiked slowly. Breathing is hard. Towards the top of the highest mountain pass, you’re approaching 14,000 feet of elevation. When we made it to the top of the first mountain pass (aptly named “Dead Woman’s Pass”), a bunch of other, faster hikers were there cheering every single person that made it up. We all deserved it.
After a good, long break, we descended into clouds and another forest, completely different from the first. This is where I got my first glimpse of huge, tree-covered mountains that made me feel like I was a 1920’s explorer discovering new lands. Hiking that far gave us plenty of time to get to know our fellow hikers and it also gave us time to hike alone. The moments I got to spend by myself with no one in sight were some of the most powerful and reverent of my entire life. I couldn’t believe I was there, hiking in the Andes, in this perfect forest, untouched by people except for this path.
It really makes you feel like we need to preserve more places in the world like this one.
By the time we made it to the second major uphill, we were done but not actually done. It was incredibly hard to keep going. Even my daughter, who was generally marching up at the front of the pack with the other 20-year-olds would rest and let me catch up. At the end of the day, we were all so glad to be done. So, so glad.
We camped in the middle of the jungle that night. Our guide, in an effort to scare us into staying in camp, told us we would “meet the giant guinea pigs in the forest and they would scare us so much that we would jump off the trail and fall one kilometer down”. I never did find out what animal he was actually talking about when he told us about the “giant guinea pigs”. Perhaps a capybara?
After dinner the clouds parted and I was lucky enough to see a beautiful sky filled with stars. The Southern Cross loomed front and center with the milky way behind it. It was tranquil, lovely, stunning — and I was very ready for bed. I believe the time was around 7:30pm.
Inca Trail Hike – Day #3
Day #3 we were up with the coca tea again and this, hands down, was my favorite day on the trail. Overnight, we got a giant rainstorm, but I slept like a “baby alpaca” (as they say in Peru) and I was ready to finish up this trail.
By the way, I’d said the trail was four days long, so why were we going to finish on Day #3? Well, in March, a series of landslides obliterated Camp #3 and we were unable to use it. So, Alpaca Expeditions arranged for us to hike a little farther, get to Machu Picchu in the afternoon of Day #3, then take a bus down to a campground in Aguas Calientes, the closest town.
And so we set off, knowing our journey would soon be over. It was still raining when we started out and the clouds obscured almost everything. Except they couldn’t obscure how gorgeous the trail was. Perfect rows of rocks paved our path, placed there carefully hundreds of years ago. On one side was a mountain, completely covered in plant life — everything from mosses to flowers clung to whatever foothold they could find. On the other side was typically a short cliff, trees, and the best moss and fern-viewing I have ever seen. This plant life was incredible!! I’m betting the views were too, but because it was cloudy, we got to focus on the little things around us.
Around mid-morning we came upon an Incan Ruin and one of the ladies in our group announced that she had cell phone coverage again. I didn’t realize how much I missed texting with my husband back home. So I immediately stopped listening to our guide and caught up with him. Tears of happiness were streaming down my face, but no one knew because it was still raining. The funny thing is, that’s the only thing I missed about civilization. I didn’t miss social media. I didn’t miss my email and I certainly didn’t miss the relentless U.S. news coverage. What I missed was talking to a handful of people back home.
It really goes to show you how much technology has taken over our lives. It used to be a tool to help us accomplish things we needed anyway, like staying in touch, and now it’s something that invades every waking hour of our day.
I put my phone back on airplane mode pretty quickly and turned back to the beauty of our adventure.
Soon after that, we came upon another Incan Ruin that was even more spectacular. The clouds parted and we were able to see into the valley for the first time and this is what we saw.
We stopped for lunch and did a bonus hike out to the best ruins yet called Winaywayna. This cute little town was perched on the side of a mountain right next to a waterfall. The people that lived here got to look at this gorgeous view every day of their lives.
We now were only a couple of hours from the famous Sun Gate and Machu Picchu itself. The Sun Gate is where we caught our first glimpse of Machu Picchu. It’s called the Sun Gate because on the summer solstice (which is in December) the sun rises right through the gate.
At this point, people doing a shorter version of the Inca Trail join us and the trail gets busier. The views are just as amazing and there are many chances to see Machu Picchu as it gets closer. There were also places that we could still kill ourselves like the famous “Gringo Killer” staircase where the stairs seem to go straight up.
One thing I haven’t discussed much is the fauna along the trail. Well, aside from a few birds, we didn’t see very many animals. They seem to hide well in the thick foliage. That being said, we did come across some insect life on the trail. This is a tarantula (dead, thankfully) being dragged by a giant wasp. I did not sleep quite as well that night after finding out we have spiders this big living amongst us.
Eventually, we reached the famous Machu Picchu viewpoint. Now was the time to celebrate and get a lot of pictures! We were exhausted, but we made it. While you can get similar pictures by visiting the ruins by bus, there is a section farther up with better views that only Inca Trail hikers can access. That was just one of the many things that made this hike worth it.
After photos, we hiked down to the bus area and took a 30-minute bus to the town of Aguas Calientes. Here, there is a campground situated right next to the Amazon River and this is where we stayed for our final night.
Inca Trail Hike – Day #4
All we had to do on the final day was see Machu Picchu. So, I thought we’d get to sleep in a little bit. That, apparently, was not possible. We ended up starting our day even earlier (3:45am) so that the porters could pack everything up and take the porter train back to Cusco.
Aguas Calientes is so remote that it is only accessible via train. 99% of tourists take the train, less than 1% of them hike to the ruins like us. The buses that take you from town to Machu Picchu were all brought in by train.
I have to say that Alpaca had everything timed out very well. We never missed an appointment. So, even though we got up very early on the last day, we hiked into town and caught one of the first buses up to Machu Picchu. Which meant we were one of the first groups to tour the ruins and we got out of there before it got really hot.
The ruins themselves were wonderful to wander around in. We saw the various temples, the leader’s house, main square, the condor temple, and learned about how the Incas here lived. It was a three hour tour and our legs were still incredibly tired, so at the end, it felt really great to get on a bus back to town.
We ended up taking the train back to Ollantaytambo and then were picked up by a bus to get back to Cusco. This took basically the entire day. When we got back, we practically dove into the shower (four days without one is….enough) and decided we were sick of Peruvian food, so we found ourselves a nice little woodfired pizza place.
Inca Trail: Our Conclusion
Both Alison and I agree that we’re so glad we did this, but we never need to do it again. It was wonderful and difficult; beautiful and exhausting. We used pretty much all of the gear Alpaca told us to bring, from flip-flops to winter jackets and walked through many distinct climate zones. It was the trip of a lifetime. Now, we’re happy to be back in Wisconsin with our clean beds and working bathrooms.