Day 13: Inca Trail Day 3

Good morning!   At 5am we had a cup of coffee and coca tea float into our tent.  The big day was here and we were to have breakfast at 530 and depart at 610.

   

It’s amazing how quickly you can slip into a routine, no matter what the conditions.   Two days without a shower was no big deal really.   We had a hearty breakfast and were climbing slowly to the top of Dead Woman’s Pass... a 400 meter ascent to the highest point of the trek at 4250 meters.

The schedule today was a long one:  leave at 615, get to lunch at 230! And get to the camp at between 430 and 530.   At the pace we’ve been going, we thought we could get there a little sooner...Nep was shocked when we arrived when we did.

We broke into our usual ascent groupings....  moms 25 meters ahead, Matt and I leading the walking dead.   



When we got to the pass (really, it’s one large breast with a huge nipple on top... we couldn’t really see the rest of the dead woman, but perhaps that was a combination of too much Coca and too little oxygen for the Incan naming committee).  Despite the slow steady pace, we’d reached the top in 45 minutes, rather than the 90 minutes Nep had allowed.

The descent was even better... Matt and I practically ran down the stone pathway... sometimes leaping big steps, often jogging and picking a line from rock to rock.

   

It felt great to be moving so fast.  We got down in 40 minutes, dropping a good 700 meters in elevation.

   

We reached the snack break almost 2 hours earlier than scheduled.   The porters were even surprised to see us there so soon.  It was really a second breakfast and we each downed a ham t we drenched in what seemed to be a luxury... mustard.

Next up was a pass at 3800 meters.... straight up and steep, the going was slow but again, steady.  The mom’s went first and the walking dead played “would you rather” to pass the time as we crawled up the steep steps, breaking halfway for a walk through an old Incan structure that was used as a waypoint for messengers.

The top of the pass was amazing.. we were on top of some clouds on both sides, but we could see the little snack area dotted on the valley car below where we had come, and on the other side just s shroud of mist in what Nep described as upper jungle climate.

Matt and I led the way down again. This section was much steeper, but after 25 minutes it evened out a bit.

  

The terrain really started to look like the high jungle, with mossy vines and strange looking reeds and trees that we hadn’t really seen before.

When we got to what felt like the bottom, we sat down and waited as Abby soon caught up.   I pointed across that valley and said that it looked like our lunch spot.    It was now just before 11.  We mostly regrouped (we saw the ladies picking their way down the steps with Nep  watching behind) so we set off along the mostly flat jungle path to lunch.

Lunch was fantastic, and though we had packed ourselves, their were some tired faces around the table.   We were several hours ahead of pace, but felt pretty comfortable.

The walk to the camp was a breeze compared to the morning... about an hour or so up and out of the lunch spot, then on some “Peruvian flats” (constant up and down) always now on a rock path that hugged a mountain face on the right side and that often dropped off thousands of feet on the left side.   Despite the description,the path was wide and always felt safe and sturdy.

We emerged in to our final camp area at 2pm, two and a half hours ahead of Nep’s early projection, and we all clambered up above our camp area to a narrow rock area perched above Machu Picchu mountain.   Tomorrow, we will hike down and around this mountain to get our first glimpse of the prize.

Today was tough, but we did very well.   I’m really proud of the kids, they’ve been quite amazing.  There have been moments for sure, but few and far between.   It was not long after setting into camp,that we heard the kids playing cards and laughing as the adults napped.... and blogged.