11/19/2019
Four-Day Hiking Tour along Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru - The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is a hiking trail in Peru that terminates at Machu Picchu. It consists of three overlapping trails: Mollepata, Classic, and One Day. I booked a four-day hiking tour of the Classic Inca Trail with Karikuy, a Peruvian travel agency highly rated for their Inca Trail tours. On the first day, the travel guide picked me up at a Cuzco hotel at 6am. After a brief stop at OIIantaytambo for breakfast, around 9am, we arrived at K82, the starting point of the Inca Trail. Local people are normally selling all kinds of hiking products in the parking lot. If you want to buy anything there with US dollars (USD), youâd better prepare some relatively new bills, because the local people do not accept any worn-out USD. Otherwise, you can buy things with the local currency. According to the Peruvian people, chewing coca leaves has better effects than drinking coca tea on preventing altitude sickness. However, as coca leaves would normally take extra room in a backpack, I brought one liter of local coca tea for the trip. The first day was an easy day for me, mostly climbing small hills. There are many rest areas established by the local people along the way. After hiking for five miles, we reached Inca ruins in Huillca Raccay and Patallaqta, two archaeological sites located in the Cuzco Region. At around 4pm, we arrived at Hatunchaca, our first campsite on the trail, where there are charging stations (5 soles per use) and restrooms (1 sole per use). Some local people even provide hot bath (10 soles). The local people also provide a Peruvian cuisine delicacy called Cuy chactado (basically fried âcuyâ - Peruvian Guinea Pig) and an Inca beverage called Chicha Morada (a popular Peruvian drink made by boiling purple corn kernels with fruits and spices).
Same as the first day, we hiked 12 miles on the second day. However, this day was the hardest in the four-day tour. We kept climbing the whole day and reached the highest peak on the Inca Trail, Dead Womenâs Pass at 4,215 meters (~12,660 ft). There were only two rest areas in this section of the trail: one is located about one-hour hike away after leaving Hatunchaca; the other is at LIulluchapampa at 3,680 m (~11,000 ft), about another four-hour hike away. This is the last place where you can buy water and snacks on the Inca Trail before you reach Machu Picchu. Around 4pm, we arrived at Pacamayo at 3,600 m (~10,800 ft), our second campsite on this trip. There is no charging station at this site.
The third day was the longest and most beautiful section of this trip. It took us one hour to climb up to the ruins of Runkuracay at 3,800 m (~11,400 ft). These small circular ruins occupy a commanding position overlooking the Pacaymayo valley below. This section of the trail, up till the 3rd pass, is particularly beautiful as the path crosses high stone embankments and skirts deep precipices. Around 6pm, we arrived at Wiñay Wayna (2650 m; ~8,000 ft), which is built into a steep hillside overlooking the Urubamba River. The site consists of upper and lower house complexes connected by a staircase and fountain structures. Above and below the houses, the Peruvian people built areas of agricultural terraces or andenes, which are still visible.
On the fourth day, we got up as early as 3am so that we could be the first group to check out of Wiñay Huayna by 5:30am and get to Machu Picchu before sunrise. Around 7am, we climbed up an almost vertical flight of 50 steps leading up to the final pass at Inti Punku (Sun Gate), where we enjoyed a beautiful distant view of the magical city of Machu Picchu bathing in the Sun. As an Incan citadel set high in the Andes Mountains, Machu Picchu was built in the 15th century and later abandoned. Itâs renowned for its sophisticated dry-stone walls that fuse huge blocks without the use of mortar. However, its exact former use remains a mystery. To me, Huayna Picchu (2,600 m; ~7,800 ft), rather than Inti Punku (Sun Gate), is the best place to have a panoramic view of Machu Picchu. Since the trail leading to Huayna Picchu is a very narrow and steep flight of steps and there are some parts where you need to use your hands for balance, I do not recommend people with vertigo or knee conditions to venture up there. To get back to Cuzco from Machu Picchu, we first went to Aguas Calientes, where we took a 7pm train (two hours ride) to OIIantaytambo, and then took a bus to return to Cuzco.
About the four-day hiking tours of the Inca Trail, it should be noted that: (1) Only limited number of permits are issued each year for tourists to access the Inca Trail. Therefore, you should reserve a permit either by yourself or through a travel agency as early as the permits are available, normally in the year before the tour; (2) The amount of tickets to Huayna Picchu is limited. Therefore, if you would like to tour Huayna Picchu, youâd better purchase a ticket at least three months in advance.
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