Hiking the Inca Trail

I took this blog post from my other (political) blog called Inside the Beltway. 


To whomever might read this (and I suspect next to no one) this is not a political post! Time to take a break and talk about other stuff. So my friend (Trevor) and I are gonna hike the Inca Trail (hopefully with another student from Columbia) in late July- early August. Exciting stuff! 145 days until we set foot to Machu Picchu.

Here's a picture of the glorious Incan mountain-city:

Basically, anyone who wants to successfully complete the 26-mile hike needs to acclimate first in Cusco, the ancient Incan capital. We'll be there for three days. The highest point of the Inca Trail stands at 14,000 feet (Dead Women's Pass). The traditional hike lasts 4 days and 3 nights. We'll be experiencing a Peruvian winter in July. Temperatures will drop to 35 degrees Farenheit at night and rise to 70 degrees Farenheit during the day.

All I can do recently is read blog posts and articles on the Inca Trail. It's one of the seven wonders of the world and is a really inspiring feat to accomplish. After perusing through plenty of websites, I've gathered a rough understanding of what will go down:

Day one of the Inca Trail is fairly easy. It's 14 km and mostly flat with the exception of a few uphills. Hikers will see a few snow capped peaks and finally settle down in the town of Ayapata. There, local vendors will sell water and beer (!!!). Time for happy hour.

Day two is grueling. It's considered by many to be the hardest day of the trek. With 16 km to walk, hikers will climb two high passes and ascend 3,000 feet. This is when you become thankful for acclimating in Cusco. Hikers in YouTube videos often fall flat on their faces after completing Dead Women's Pass. I'm expecting this day to be harder than clocking a sub-11 minute two mile.

Some consider day three "relaxing" compared to the previous day's adventure. It's beautiful and a relatively short distance, but hikers are forced to go downhill for a large duration of the trek. This is where walking sticks come in handy. At the end of the day your knees will be begging for rest. But day three is aesthetically pleasing. You'll go through jungles with hummingbirds and other interesting animals. Sounds good to me.

Finally, day four involves an early morning wake up (read: 3am) to depart for the Sun Gate, which was the Inca's entrance to Machu Picchu. Headlamps will be useful to navigate the dark trails. Upon arrival at the Sun Gate hikers take pictures, admire the consummation of a grueling trip, and then embark on a 2 hour tour of the ancient city. I expect to be surprised and jealous of tourists who skipped the hike and took a train to Machu Picchu. Our hygiene levels will pale in comparison to theirs.

So there it is! A brief summary of the trek. I'll write more blog posts on this Peruvian wonder to cure my boredom.