Day 2: Challenge Day

I knew going into sleep the night before that I was going to be facing the toughest day of hiking when I woke. Half of me wanted to sleep like a baby and just get to it, but the reality was that I wanted to slow down time and prolong the challenging hike for as long as possible. However, the animals on the farm that we camped on did not allow for any kind of easy rest.

Our wake up time was to be for 5:30am, but I was wide awake from the roosters cock-a-doodle-doing and the dogs barking at 4:00am. So much for sleeping like a baby and getting all the rest I needed.

Once we were all up, we drank some much needed coca tea and ate as much as our nervous stomachs would allow us.

Why were we full of nerves and dreading the Day 2 path so much, you ask? From the location that we were starting our day off, the elevation was just over 10,000 feet, which is just about the equivalent elevation of South Sister’s summit. From there, we would be hiking straight up to Dead Woman’s Pass that sits at a casual 13,800 feet. Not only did that mean we would be climbing stairs and hills for the next five and a half hours, but the altitude was going to be taking a toll on breathing and as well as mindset.

Challenge accepted.

We hit the trail just short of 7:00am. Right away the trail was uphill. However, I had already known this from the day before when I tacked on an extra mile past our campsite. Knowing what was ahead did not quite make it easier.

Although Day 2 is the hardest day of the hike, the change in scenery makes for a great distraction. On this day, you move up into the jungle, or the “cloud forest”. The trees start to get more dense, colorful flowers start to pop up (really more so after December), and the clouds get closer.

One of the most amazing aspects of the Inka trail is that the trail itself was handmade. The thousands of steps that lead to Machu Picchu were all formed from stones and hand laid. Instead of dreading each step, I walked up them with pride knowing the men who created them put blood, sweat and (I’m sure just as many as I was starting to feel rise up) tears in each stair.

Typically on hikes, I don’t listen to music. I would rather take in all the senses that are available to me. After hiking for about an hour, I decided I needed a little extra motivation, or just a distraction, so I popped in my earphones. What a world of a difference music made for my pace and breathing. Everything was suddenly set to a steady rhythm and it allowed me to push ahead.

Since there were not any Inka sights to stop and look at on Day 2, we only stopped as a group a couple times to recharge and gather our wits about us. It also gave me less excuses to slow down and have to restart the momentum I had been concentrating on perfecting. I had the right rhythm for my breath, the right speed for the steps, and the same mantra playing over and over in my head: “Path of least resistance.”

Because the stairs are all different heights, shapes and sizes, there were endless possibilities of how to climb up them. For me, making a game out of climbing them became apart of my ritual. Every chance I got, I looked for the lowest part of the step and followed that up. I later asked the rest of my group if they found themselves repeating a certain mantra the whole hike, and everyone had their very own unique one.

As I kept trekking upwards through the jungle, just as soon as I felt that I entered it, I was back out. The altitude really only started taking a toll on me when I was in view of the peak destinations, Dead Woman’s Pass. Luckily I packed extra coca candies that leveled out my dizziness and eliminated the possibility of nausea.

The excitement of seeing Dead Woman’s Pass was overwhelming. I was close enough to see that there were people up there, celebrating their hard work, yet I was far enough to know that I had to keep putting one foot in front of the other. And then, before I knew it, I was there.

I cried. Every emotion that I had been feeling through the whole climb up finally released and I cried. The realization that I had pushed myself harder than ever before and looking back at where I was the previous year was overwhelming.

The view was breathtaking as well. I wanted to stay up there all day long, but we had been instructed that staying up there longer than 25 minutes would start to affect our bodies and I did not want to ruin my experience by overdoing it. I hung out until the next people in my group made it up and celebrated with them, and then made my way down the other side to our camp.

I could see the camp from the top of the pass, but it took about an hour and half to two hours to reach it. Luckily the trail was straight downhill, but the stairs were much steeper so I took my time.

My mind and body were recovering from the overload of work up to the top that the way down was not very monumental. The tease of the campsite at the bottom of the trail kept luring me forward. I made some friends along the way down, which helped keep the motivation up to keep moving. 

Finally, after what felt like the longest day ever, I reached camp. My other group members trickled in over the next hour, receiving cheers and praise for making it through the hardest day. Once settled, we ate dinner and celebrated. The mood was one hundred and eighty degrees different from the previous night. With full stomachs, eventually we all called it an early night. Although we had finished the toughest day of the Inka Trail, there were still many miles, and hills, between us and our final destination. 

Up next: Day 3 Cultural Day