The Inca Trail - It's a Long Way Down
Jan 14th, 2012, 11:36 AM
#42
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I would continue the story but FYB's comment hurts quite a bit. More than the mountain bike fall. She was hoping I would get hurt, far far away from Canada's excellent socialized health care system.
I may be able to continue tonight while watching curling on the tele. We noticed that curling was not big in Peru.
I may be able to continue tonight while watching curling on the tele. We noticed that curling was not big in Peru.
Jan 14th, 2012, 12:23 PM
#43
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Cold,
Just found your trip report and am very much enjoying it. It is reminding me of my own trip to MP many years ago, and it remains one of the most awesome and inspiring trips I've ever done. The sights and sites are literally breathtaking... in so many ways ! I however took the train on the way up and hiked the way down, which wasn't any easier by the sounds of it.
Totally agree about the misgivings of not spending Christmas at home (we did it 3 years ago going to the DR and thinking how nice it would be to avoid the hustle and bustle, but later vowed not to again); I loved Pisac and the market but had my anorak and camera stolen from around my waist there while balancing a large bird of prey (not sure if it could have been a condor) on my arm; I also agree that bargaining seems like a crime when the prices are already so low. I have 2 nice Alpaca sweaters that I still use today and paid $8 for each.
Sorry to hear of all the throwing up and squatting down, but hey, its common on that trail. And Canadian bears never venture into the woods without a roll of Charmin'....
Looking forward to the rest of your trip report.
Just found your trip report and am very much enjoying it. It is reminding me of my own trip to MP many years ago, and it remains one of the most awesome and inspiring trips I've ever done. The sights and sites are literally breathtaking... in so many ways ! I however took the train on the way up and hiked the way down, which wasn't any easier by the sounds of it.
Totally agree about the misgivings of not spending Christmas at home (we did it 3 years ago going to the DR and thinking how nice it would be to avoid the hustle and bustle, but later vowed not to again); I loved Pisac and the market but had my anorak and camera stolen from around my waist there while balancing a large bird of prey (not sure if it could have been a condor) on my arm; I also agree that bargaining seems like a crime when the prices are already so low. I have 2 nice Alpaca sweaters that I still use today and paid $8 for each.
Sorry to hear of all the throwing up and squatting down, but hey, its common on that trail. And Canadian bears never venture into the woods without a roll of Charmin'....
Looking forward to the rest of your trip report.
Jan 14th, 2012, 03:38 PM
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Mathieu - thanks to my wife I think we had 30 rolls of Charmin. We came home with 27. Gruezi we didn't see much of the boys after 1.5 days. They were too far ahead. Ncounty - the rafting trip is reported on above somewhere. The mountain biking was after.
So in 30 hours we had climbed 5000 feet. Over the next two days we would descend 6000 feet. The descent started in a pretty good rainstorm and cold temperatures. Raul was helping my wife just ahead of me but it became apparent she didn’t need any help. She was flying downhill. Our target was Chaquicocha, 1900 feet below. This was a campsite that many groups stayed overnight at. We were only having lunch there and would continue on much further before we stopped for the day.
You notice the porters going uphill, but you really notice them going downhill. They are carrying about 50 pounds each. They are small people to begin with. They were moving at about twice our pace, basically running down the steps. The steps are not wide, something that caused me a lot of problems with my size 15 hiking shoes. But the narrow steps were not an issue for the porters who did not even appear to be looking at the ground. They would leave each campground and lunch spot after us, pass us on the trail and get to the next spot in plenty of time to set up the tents and make the meal. We did see a few porters, not with our company, who looked like they were past their best days. It was very sad to see these men stopping every few hundred yards, unloading their packs and taking a break. Porter welfare is a very big issue on the Inca Trail.
You are aware of how far you are going up on the way up, but you really appreciate how far you have ascended when you go back down. The 1900 feet down took forever. It was laughable how the steps never ended. Okay it wasn’t laughable for one of our friends who took two nasty falls on the way down. She could have been seriously hurt. After seemingly descending forever, we spotted our lunch camp, and it was still way the hect further down in the valley. Another 45 minutes of descent.
Finally we arrived at Pacamayo for lunch. We had been hiking for about seven hours. We arrived to an argument. A Spanish fellow had left his group far behind and had now arrived well before his porters and therefore his tent and his lunch. He was asking to sit in our lunch tent. Our guides were saying no. This was not going over well with the Spanish jackrabbit, who started yelling at all of us. One good thing about being really tired is that we couldn’t care less about this guy. Yell, scream, whatever. Soup please.
Although my wife had put in a strong performance coming down the hill, we still thought we should leave early for the afternoon hike up to the second pass. Yes back up. I used to do a sport called orienteering where you find your way through the woods and around lakes using a map and a compass. The number one rule of orienteering is to avoid losing altitude. Don’t go down and back up if you can stay level even if the route is longer. Apparently the Incas didn’t orienteer. We had just come down 1900 feet and now we had to climb 1400 feet back up. And to me this was the steepest section of the trail.
From our lunch spot it took about an hour to climb up to the ruins of Runkuracay. While others heard about the ruins my wife and I sat on a rock and looked at the Pacamayo valley below. Another 60 minute hike brought us to the second pass (13,100 feet). Going up this last section was hard on the entire over 50 group. One of our friends was crying. But the rain had stopped and the scenery was gorgeous. We sat at the pass with a large group from northern Canada. We joked that next vacation we would just stay home and paddle the Nahanni river.
By now the really hard part was behind us. We had hiked about 28 kilometres and most of the climbing was finished. The descent down the steps from the second pass was very steep. Our friend who had fallen was near exhaustion. The good news was that this section of the trail, up to the 3rd pass, is particularly beautiful. After about 90 minutes we arrived at Sayacmarca, a ruin accessible only by a steep staircase. A steep staircase with a drop off on one side and a couple of rock outcroppings on the other side. These rocks pushed you over to the drop off side. Going up wasn’t a big problem. But our guide had to help all three women down the staircase. Two of the men, including me, chose to go down on our asses. We have our pride.
So in 30 hours we had climbed 5000 feet. Over the next two days we would descend 6000 feet. The descent started in a pretty good rainstorm and cold temperatures. Raul was helping my wife just ahead of me but it became apparent she didn’t need any help. She was flying downhill. Our target was Chaquicocha, 1900 feet below. This was a campsite that many groups stayed overnight at. We were only having lunch there and would continue on much further before we stopped for the day.
You notice the porters going uphill, but you really notice them going downhill. They are carrying about 50 pounds each. They are small people to begin with. They were moving at about twice our pace, basically running down the steps. The steps are not wide, something that caused me a lot of problems with my size 15 hiking shoes. But the narrow steps were not an issue for the porters who did not even appear to be looking at the ground. They would leave each campground and lunch spot after us, pass us on the trail and get to the next spot in plenty of time to set up the tents and make the meal. We did see a few porters, not with our company, who looked like they were past their best days. It was very sad to see these men stopping every few hundred yards, unloading their packs and taking a break. Porter welfare is a very big issue on the Inca Trail.
You are aware of how far you are going up on the way up, but you really appreciate how far you have ascended when you go back down. The 1900 feet down took forever. It was laughable how the steps never ended. Okay it wasn’t laughable for one of our friends who took two nasty falls on the way down. She could have been seriously hurt. After seemingly descending forever, we spotted our lunch camp, and it was still way the hect further down in the valley. Another 45 minutes of descent.
Finally we arrived at Pacamayo for lunch. We had been hiking for about seven hours. We arrived to an argument. A Spanish fellow had left his group far behind and had now arrived well before his porters and therefore his tent and his lunch. He was asking to sit in our lunch tent. Our guides were saying no. This was not going over well with the Spanish jackrabbit, who started yelling at all of us. One good thing about being really tired is that we couldn’t care less about this guy. Yell, scream, whatever. Soup please.
Although my wife had put in a strong performance coming down the hill, we still thought we should leave early for the afternoon hike up to the second pass. Yes back up. I used to do a sport called orienteering where you find your way through the woods and around lakes using a map and a compass. The number one rule of orienteering is to avoid losing altitude. Don’t go down and back up if you can stay level even if the route is longer. Apparently the Incas didn’t orienteer. We had just come down 1900 feet and now we had to climb 1400 feet back up. And to me this was the steepest section of the trail.
From our lunch spot it took about an hour to climb up to the ruins of Runkuracay. While others heard about the ruins my wife and I sat on a rock and looked at the Pacamayo valley below. Another 60 minute hike brought us to the second pass (13,100 feet). Going up this last section was hard on the entire over 50 group. One of our friends was crying. But the rain had stopped and the scenery was gorgeous. We sat at the pass with a large group from northern Canada. We joked that next vacation we would just stay home and paddle the Nahanni river.
By now the really hard part was behind us. We had hiked about 28 kilometres and most of the climbing was finished. The descent down the steps from the second pass was very steep. Our friend who had fallen was near exhaustion. The good news was that this section of the trail, up to the 3rd pass, is particularly beautiful. After about 90 minutes we arrived at Sayacmarca, a ruin accessible only by a steep staircase. A steep staircase with a drop off on one side and a couple of rock outcroppings on the other side. These rocks pushed you over to the drop off side. Going up wasn’t a big problem. But our guide had to help all three women down the staircase. Two of the men, including me, chose to go down on our asses. We have our pride.
Jan 14th, 2012, 06:56 PM
#51
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omg.... 1900 feet down, then back UP 1400?!!! aaargh. This reminds me of my climb up the mountain at Machu Picchu which I later you-tubed and found someone describe it as "excruciating". It seemed like every hour someone coming down would say it's only another 20 minutes more. Except my experience only lasted 5 hours; you did this for 4 days.
I did read about your rafting adventure up earlier, Cold. I think subliminally, I repressed it because I wanted to hear more.
I did read about your rafting adventure up earlier, Cold. I think subliminally, I repressed it because I wanted to hear more.
Jan 15th, 2012, 05:14 AM
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IF your fear of heights is so much, it is difficult for you to casually walk down stadium steps. I have two words of advice:
Don't Go!
The inca trail is nothing but steep very steep/narrow slopes. You will be miserable, and worse could loose your balance and your worse fears come true.
This is not worth the money or the time. Go to a flat, ample destination like a beach instead. Your brain will feel more like a vacation than a torture.
Don't Go!
The inca trail is nothing but steep very steep/narrow slopes. You will be miserable, and worse could loose your balance and your worse fears come true.
This is not worth the money or the time. Go to a flat, ample destination like a beach instead. Your brain will feel more like a vacation than a torture.
Jan 15th, 2012, 12:53 PM
#55
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To Emasaly’s point, if I was still climbing down stadiums row by row, I would have not attempted the Inca Trail. But there are lots of people out there who have mild aversions to heights. I found it difficult to find a good description of how us vertically challenged (VC) would find the trail. I was going to address it later but here it is. And this is my experience only. Other VCs might see it differently.
If you don’t like steep steps forget it. There are thousands of those. The challenge for many of us is a sharp drop-off to one side. I noticed on day 1 that there were many such drop-offs ranging from 10 feet to god knows where you would stop rolling. In the majority of these cases the trail was 5 feet or so wide. So most of us VCs could edge over to the mountain side of the trail and feel only slightly uncomfortable. In some cases the drop off appeared even more severe but there was a foot or two of vegetation before the drop off. It is amazing how a bit of vegetation looks like a railing to the brain. Not only would you have to stumble, but you would have to penetrate a foot of grass before tumbling towards your death. “The grass will stop me. I feel safe.” LOL
Starting on day 3 there were some rock paths (not many dirt paths as found on days 1 and 2) that were wet and slippery. They were also about five feet wide but there was no vegetation serving as a visual barrier. The drop-offs in these cases ranged from 10 feet to 100 feet with continuing steep slopes after that. Our guide said that this is where he had heard of a couple of accidents. Not only do you have to worry about slippery surfaces, you also have to worry about people passing you. While everyone is told to stick to the mountain side when someone passes, rather than the drop-off side, it is still unnerving in a perceived dangerous situation to have someone pass you. In fact I heard a couple of people get snapped at for passing in the wrong place.
The other type of place where a VC person might be nervous is where you are climbing up or down a short but very steep staircase without a drop off on other side. On day 4 the last set of stairs to the “Sun Gate” is almost vertical. If you keep looking up you probably won’t have a problem. I don’t know about looking back down as I didn’t try it.
Now on the bright side, you get so used to focusing on your next step (where to put your foot, where to find the energy) that it becomes rather rhythmic. Yes there is a cliff there. But I will just put my foot down over here for the 40,000,000th time today. Ladiddah. If I fall, I fall. I’ll feel better than I do now. If someone had told me I would enter such a zen-like zone and that cliffs wouldn’t bother me, I wouldn’t have believed them. But with perhaps ten exceptions that is what happened. And the ten exceptions all happened on days 3 and 4. In fact we often commented that if there was just one of the drop-offs we experienced somewhere in our own city, there would be an outcry to but a barrier up. When there are a hundred such cliffs, you more or less get used to them. Oh by the way, there were places where small barriers had been put up to prevent falling. We laughed thinking about how they chose where to put them. “Okay boys we have ten barriers and 100 places we could put them. Let’s flip.”
So can a person with a mild aversion to heights do the trail? I would say yes unless it is staircases they don’t like. I would also add that I had more problems watching our own guide zip along the edge of paths, or standing with his back to cliffs while he was explaining something to me, than I did with my own fears. A couple of times I asked him to step away from the edge. He had two responses. 1) This is my 641st trip. I am still here. 2) The Inca Gods will protect me.
If you don’t like steep steps forget it. There are thousands of those. The challenge for many of us is a sharp drop-off to one side. I noticed on day 1 that there were many such drop-offs ranging from 10 feet to god knows where you would stop rolling. In the majority of these cases the trail was 5 feet or so wide. So most of us VCs could edge over to the mountain side of the trail and feel only slightly uncomfortable. In some cases the drop off appeared even more severe but there was a foot or two of vegetation before the drop off. It is amazing how a bit of vegetation looks like a railing to the brain. Not only would you have to stumble, but you would have to penetrate a foot of grass before tumbling towards your death. “The grass will stop me. I feel safe.” LOL
Starting on day 3 there were some rock paths (not many dirt paths as found on days 1 and 2) that were wet and slippery. They were also about five feet wide but there was no vegetation serving as a visual barrier. The drop-offs in these cases ranged from 10 feet to 100 feet with continuing steep slopes after that. Our guide said that this is where he had heard of a couple of accidents. Not only do you have to worry about slippery surfaces, you also have to worry about people passing you. While everyone is told to stick to the mountain side when someone passes, rather than the drop-off side, it is still unnerving in a perceived dangerous situation to have someone pass you. In fact I heard a couple of people get snapped at for passing in the wrong place.
The other type of place where a VC person might be nervous is where you are climbing up or down a short but very steep staircase without a drop off on other side. On day 4 the last set of stairs to the “Sun Gate” is almost vertical. If you keep looking up you probably won’t have a problem. I don’t know about looking back down as I didn’t try it.
Now on the bright side, you get so used to focusing on your next step (where to put your foot, where to find the energy) that it becomes rather rhythmic. Yes there is a cliff there. But I will just put my foot down over here for the 40,000,000th time today. Ladiddah. If I fall, I fall. I’ll feel better than I do now. If someone had told me I would enter such a zen-like zone and that cliffs wouldn’t bother me, I wouldn’t have believed them. But with perhaps ten exceptions that is what happened. And the ten exceptions all happened on days 3 and 4. In fact we often commented that if there was just one of the drop-offs we experienced somewhere in our own city, there would be an outcry to but a barrier up. When there are a hundred such cliffs, you more or less get used to them. Oh by the way, there were places where small barriers had been put up to prevent falling. We laughed thinking about how they chose where to put them. “Okay boys we have ten barriers and 100 places we could put them. Let’s flip.”
So can a person with a mild aversion to heights do the trail? I would say yes unless it is staircases they don’t like. I would also add that I had more problems watching our own guide zip along the edge of paths, or standing with his back to cliffs while he was explaining something to me, than I did with my own fears. A couple of times I asked him to step away from the edge. He had two responses. 1) This is my 641st trip. I am still here. 2) The Inca Gods will protect me.
Jan 15th, 2012, 03:50 PM
#56
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Wow, what a spectacular and gripping description of the, ahem, ordeal. I can just imagine it. My climb was very similar, with slick wet steep rocks to climb, including rappeling up with a rope at one point.... but again, mine was 5 hours. This must be a very memorable trip with true highs and lows.
Jan 15th, 2012, 04:23 PM
#57
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Ncounty - our guide told us that MP mountain was much tougher to climb that Huayna Picchu. Here are some pictures of what you climbed. The fifth picture shows what would bug me, especially without the vegetation.
http://wonderaday.com/blog/4007/
http://wonderaday.com/blog/4007/
Jan 15th, 2012, 09:55 PM
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Great find, cold! That looks exactly like the day I climbed. I almost expected to see a picture of myself at the end taken by the French couple I met at the top (thought it could have been their blog); they took a pic of me since my camera just died at the very top. It was amazing to be looking down at Huaynu picchu and other mountaintops and clouds.
Looking forward to the rest of your TR... mas, as santamonica said!
Looking forward to the rest of your TR... mas, as santamonica said!
