With all the reading I had done ahead of the trip, they all warn that day 2 is the hardest. There's 1400m of elevation gained over 6 hours of steep grueling uphill climbs and ancient stone staircases that never seem to end, followed by 2 hours of equally steep and far more treacherous downhill. Day 3 is always described as 'beautiful' or 'incredible', with "no real elevation challenges" which I translated into being a fairly easy day. (HA!) Day 4 almost isn't ever mentioned as it's when you finally get your payoff for all the hard work you've put in. Put together it sounds intimidating but beautiful and I figured how bad can it really be? We had studied the elevation tables and knew it would be the toughest hike we'd ever done, but it still looked like something we could conquer, so I felt ready to take it on.
We started day 2 at camp 1...a quiet hillside camp where we were the only ones around. There was running water and a real flush toilet (western style, which we would soon realize was a huge luxury) and though tired from a lack of real sleep, we were eager to get day 2 over with.
(See? This is what happens when you don't sleep...you go a little loopy)
Day 2 started out with a steep uphill switchback, snaking it's way past the last of the little farming villages along the trail. (And making for some interesting donkey-dodging to stay out of their way) Soon dirt path have way to rockier gravel, then eventually the dreaded steps. For miles on end the steps stretched, a seemingly never-ending stair master. After watching the porters for a bit I soon realized the was often one point on the steps that was slightly lower than the rest of the stones, sometimes forcing you to snake back and forth across the roughly 4 foot wide path.
The terrain is so steep and unforgiving that they don't arrange lunch for you...there's just nowhere flat to set it up. The ultimate goal for the day is to make it over dead woman's pass (so named because from the other side it apparently looks like a woman lying down? I couldn't see it and I was far too exhausted to spend much time trying to decipher it.) To say the pass was a challenge is a massive understatement!!!! It got so steep and monotonous towards the top that I had to force myself to take 50 steps, then I could stop for a break. It literally went on for hours like that. Between the physical exertion and the high altitude (4215 m), every step was work. But there's no going backwards, so I had no choice but to keep going. I don't have a photo to show you of me actually making it to the top, I was honestly too drained to lift my arms at that point, but here's a look at how Nick felt when we finally made it down to camp 2.
It started to rain just as we made it to camp 2, so there was just enough time for a quick baby wipe bath and a change into clean dry clothes, then it was tea time, with crackers, popcorn, and 2 hours of playing cards with the rest of our group before dinner and time for bed.
After another night of not much sleep (too sore and cold to sleep well, despite the 4 layers I had on) we broke camp at 6:30am, heartened at least by the fact that the hardest day was over and it was all beautiful downhills from there...
Only it wasn't.
Day 3 is definitely the most beautiful of the days, that's for sure. There's a stretch of an hour or two where you hug the edge of a cliff face as you weave through what's known as the cloud forest. (Basically a treetop view of the jungle. My lack of a proper description really doesn't do it justice.) The other 10 hours of hiking are largely spent trying not to fall off steep, narrow steps, often perched over a sheer cliff face (just for added challenge) If not for the rented hiking poles, I'm positive I would have died multiple times over. As physically stressful as day 2 was, day 3 was equally mentally challenging.
When we first started our tour in Lima, our main guide informed us that there had been a recent landslide at campsite 3, so everyone was being ordered off the trail at the last checkpoint to the town of Agua Calientes, to be bussed up to Machu Picchu in the morning with the rest of the tourists.
Shortly after starting our actual trek, our trail guide informed us that we would now be camping at the last checkpoint before the landslide, but it meant hitting the trail at 2am on day 4 and passing through some particularly treacherous and steep terrain in order to make it for sunrise to the sun gate. But then by some miracle one of our porters was able to pull strings and find out that there was one small campsite unaffected at camp 3, meaning only a 2 hour hike on the final day, in terrain much less dangerous to do in the dark.
The porters woke us at 4am, without our spoiled luxury of a cup of hot coca leaf tea in bed. (All the kitchen gear having been packed the night before in preparation for a quick early exit in the morning.) After descending so many stairs the day before, it was nice to start the day at a lower (and warmer) altitude, so after an hour in line waiting for our final checkpoint to open, we were off!
(No photo here...it was nearly pitch black)
The "2 hours of flat and downhill" that we were told to expect was more like "2+ hours of uphill and broken, jagged rocks that had to be carefully picked over". It was an interesting hike though, as many people were hiking in closer lines than the rest of the trail. There are 200 hikers that start the trail every day (and 300 support staff) so by the end you get familliar with some of the people you've hiked with. (or passed, or been passed by...repeatedly) Everyone's pretty festive and excited to finally get to the prize that we'd been spending so much energy to see. Even the Gringo Killer (52 extremely steep, narrow steps going up) wasn't going to wreck our mood!
And then you're there...the sun gate!
I'm delirious with exhaustion and relief!
Only it's another 45 minutes of even more jagged, broken stones before you can actually get to the real Machu Picchu site. But when you get there, the pain and exhaustion fade away, replaced by the excitement of seeing such an iconic relic in real life. (Kind of how I imagine childbirth to be like? And also deserving of a quick celebration beer too?)
All and all, it was grueling, painful, exhausting and awe inspiring. I don't feel the need to do it again any time soon, but I'm very very glad to have done it! Especially with this goofball beside me!
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