The original stairmaster

Kim and I arrived in Machu Picchu around 7am and walked the stairs of the terraces up to the trailhead of the Machu Picchu Mountain hike. Our legs were slightly sore from the vertical ascent on Wayna Picchu yesterday, so we were fully prepared to turnaround without reaching the top. We had read that the hike is a steady ascent, at about a 35 degree angle, with an elevation gain just over 2100 feet, and an average completion time of four hours. That's a long time of going up. And don't forget, Kim was flat on her back for the entire month of July with a respiratory virus and has only recently been feeling better (still not 100%).

We signed in at the checkpoint at 7:15. There were just a few people ahead of us and a couple behind. Our starting elevation was 7,868 feet, and we were headed to 10,007. Almost immediately, we began climbing rock stairs. I had been preparing for this moment with months of walking the stairs to the 11th floor in my work building. Unfortunately, we climbed 11 floors' worth of stairs in the first few minutes. Few hikers passed us on the trail, and slowly, some of the ones in front of us started to turn back. Although the elevation is around 9000, it is a cloud forest, which means heat and humidity. Luckily the weather wasn't bad, with a temperature in the low 70's and some cloud cover; but, with the exertion, we were definitely breaking a sweat.

The trail winds its way through the jungle, and after an hour of climbing stairs, we were barely halfway there. We didn't talk much but just kept putting one foot on the next rock, over and over again. We took frequent breaks to view the increasingly, smaller Machu Picchu below us. Soon we were level with the peak of Wayna Picchu, which seemed like a long way to go yesterday. As we got closer to the top, the stairs began to narrow in some places, and the edge of them dropped off the cliff. For the most part, the path had been exceptionally wide, but when you needed the most space, there wasn't any. Finally, two young women were headed down. We asked how far to the top, but they had turned around short of the peak. Apparently there is one last set of stairs that is particularly steep, narrow, and set out on the rock face. One of them couldn't stomach it, so they had turned around less than 30 minutes ago. We were exhausted and our legs were burning, but Kim and I agreed that we could do another 30 minutes.

The 30 minutes was actually a long estimate, and we summited sooner than that. There were about 20 people at the top, enjoying the view. From the peak, we had an amazing view of Machu Picchu and Wayna Picchu, with the Urubamba River splitting the valley far, far below. We could see where we had walked in on the Inca Trail, with Winay Wanya behind us. We rested for a several minutes, making sure we were hydrated and energized for the walk back down. As we started, it occurred to me that I probably should have walked down the stairs at work, too. That works a whole different set of muscles, apparently. In little time, we were at the top of the narrow stairs, which had been enough to turn away the young women we'd earlier met. Here we found a trembling young man, who had been proud and boisterous at the top. Now he had to go down the stairs. He was sitting down, hugging the mountainside, crying to his girlfriend. She was trying to get him to sit on his bum and go down the stairs like a small child, but he would not hear of it. I asked to pass and purposively bounded down the stairs. At the rate he was going, he should be down the mountain sometime next week.

The walk down grew more painful with each step. We were on our third day of hiking and the second day of steps, so my muscles were getting slightly perturbed. We brought great joy to the hikers that were on their way up, when we gave them an approximation of the time to summit. It was fun to see the relief in their faces. We stopped frequently to take photos and rest our weary bodies, but it didn't slow us down. We got back to the gate after a total of 3.5 hours on the trail, 30 minutes under the average. Not bad for a couple of middle-aged women! Or, so it was pointed out to us. On the way down, we met a young couple from Indiana. Kim was speaking to the guy, who said, "You all are brave," in response to Kim confirming that we had been to the top. When she noted that they were brave because they were doing it as well, he said, "Yea, but we're young." I'm so glad I don't take 50 too seriously.

We got off the trail in time to spend another hour in Machu Picchu. We got to see llamas grazing on the terraces and checked out some of the agricultural zone that we missed yesterday. We meandered down to the entrance, where we stepped out and had lunch. As we ate, we watched the line for the busses growing, so we finished quickly and headed to the queue. It was an hour before we were on the bus back to Aguas Calientes. Once there, we met up with Jessica, got our bags, and walked to the train station.

I'm sure the train usually works just fine, but not for us. We were into our second hour on the train and moving out of Ollantaytambo, when the engineer hit the brakes. Everything on our table slid to the opposite side, and the train came to a stop. We waited to start up again, but nothing seemed to be happening. Finally our steward came by and said, "The machine is broken, and we are waiting." We clarified that machine actually meant engine. So, we sat on the tracks for about 45 minutes, before an engine came and towed us back to Ollantaytambo. From there, we surmised that they replaced our engine, and we were able to get moving again after an hour delay. We ended up being late getting in, but we arrived at our hotel around 9:30. We scrambled to get everything packed up; tomorrow we leave at 7am for Lima.Okumaya devam et