Inca Trail

"The Journey is the Destination"

This was the motto for our four day trek through the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. This trek has been the number one bucket list item for me since grade seven and to have fulfilled this dream is so special to me. Over the next few posts, I will try to sum up the indescribable beauty and adventure that we have experienced over the past four days. This was an exhausting yet unbelievably rewarding trek... But I'm getting ahead of myself, let's start at the beginning.

Day 1: we wake up at 03:00am in order to be ready for our 03:30am departure time. We are hiking the Inca Trail using the company Alpaca Expeditions. We meet our two guides Marisol and Lizandro and hop on a bus for 2.5 hours until we are out of Cusco and into the town of Ollantaytambo. In this town we get our first breakfast and a chance to get to know the other 14 people we will be hiking with. We then continue for 20 mins to the start of the trail.

The first section of the trail is very flat and easy for about 1.5 hours. This is what is considered the warm up to help you get used to using the hiking poles. We then had 2.5 hours of Incan flats... which aren't actually flat. They are just constant alternating uphills and downhills; however they are not very steep. During this part of the hike we stopped a few times to learn some history about the towns we were walking through and about the Inca trail as a whole. We then continued to the lunch spot and had a delicious meal before continuing for our final 2 hours of hiking for the day. These two hours were constant uphill and were the most difficult part of the day. We got into our campsite at around 4:30pm.

We then relaxed for about an hour before starting happy hour... Which is where you drink tea and hot chocolate and have popcorn while chatting with the rest of the group in the dining tent. We then had dinner and went straight into the tent for bed. One of the other travelers in the tent next to us was one of the loudest snorers I have ever heard. I had to listen to music to try and drown him out and sleep... Luckily I was so tired from the day I passed out pretty quickly.

The Inca Trail is just as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one. You have to motivate yourself to keep putting one foot in front of the other even when you're tired, sore, and blistered and you have been hiking for 5+ hours already. For me day one was the toughest in that regard. While it was not as physically demanding, whenever we were on a tough section of incline it was a bit daunting thinking of day 2 (which is the notoriously difficult day where you have to summit two peaks and hike uphill for 6+ hours). That being said, I had a great first day. The guides were hilarious and so helpful and the porters and cooks were phenomenal. Everything was very well organized and the views were beautiful.Read more