Peru - Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

September (2014).  We went on a five day supported hike through the Andes of Peru ending in Machu Picchu. This is an alternative route to the famed ancient ruins (the other option is the Inca Trail).  The Salkantay trek is longer and higher, and for that I am glad, as the high glaciers and passes of the Andes mountains provide a beautiful contrast between the works of the Lord and the work of man (no comparison). Still, if you want to fly to Peru and hike in the Andes, I would see both, as the city in the clouds was as awesome as you might expect. Plus, Salkantay trek permits are also easier to get.

Cusco (the town at 9000 feet that most people spend a few days in, lots to see and it gives the body some time to acclimate):

11 sided stone, Cusco

11 sided stone; this massive stone was cut and set by the ancient people of the Andes. Much of their works were destroyed or build over by the Spanish, but original foundation stones like this are visible in various sites of the city today. 1000 plus years, no mortar.

Downtown Cusco

Cusco square

Day One:

Sacred Valley, Peru

Taken through the window of the van on the way to the trailhead; we had to get a ridiculously early start due to road closures. The trip through the Sacred Valley was awesome. This massive valley is full of terraced family farms on its slopes.

Coca tea

 Only legal in Peru. We stopped at a cute little cafe in a small rural town of plaster Adobe buildings. About a half a dozen schoolchildren were walking the narrow dirt roads as we pulled up to the  family owed cafe with outdoor seating for breakfast where we were served coca tea (for the elevation).

Getting set.  The four guys in the background were our guides. They rode mules or hiked while leading mules.  The mules carried tents, sleeping backs, food, cooking supplies and our own personal overnight supplies (we only carried daypacks).  Each day, they rode out ahead of us, set up a table and tent, and prepared a restaurant quality meal at lunch. After lunch, they packed up, and rode ahead to set up our tents and prepare dinner. It was kind of uncanny how good the food was.

Salkantay distance/elevation 

Map outlining the first, uphill part of our trip.  Distances in kilometers, elevation in meters.  We stated at Soraypampa the first night, and went through Salkantay pass and beyond on the second day.

David, our guide, on the first leg of our trip. He had a kid, was attending college, spoke Spanish, English, and German fluently. He worked at a mine in his twenties, then got into guiding.  He stated that this was because he loved the mountains, and I believed it. We all really enjoyed talking with David.

View looking back over the Sacred Valley on our way up, about a mile in.

The route had various juxtaposed mom and pop snack bars like this one. While it did take away from the feel of the wilderness experience, we did not mind the periodic access to processed goodies.

Dogs in Peru were semi-stray.  They seem to have a turf and related to humans, people feed them outside their homes, they roam around and scavenge as well. We figured this puppy who was bumming food from us (who could resist), sort of belonged to the people living in the property next to the outpost snackbar.

Tucarhuay

The first views of the towering glaciated peaks, day one. This is Tucarhuay.  At about 18,000 feet, the top of this peak remains frozen despite its equatorial position on the globe.

Lunch on day one. In a tall tent. On a table with a tablecloth. The trout was amazing.  It was all amazing.

Tucarhuay glacier

This is the stuff I was referring to earlier in the post when I spoke of the works of the Lord.

Tucarhuay

While enjoying the immense views of peaks and glaciers and trying to capture some photos when our guide David had a discussion with me about my camera. He first gave me a bit of a hard time for lugging my Nikon SLR with a 18-200 mm bulky telephoto lens on such an arduous journey.  Then, and it was him who coined the phrase, he stated "your camera is not big enough for the mountains man". This is completely true on so many levels. Technically, I could not even fit the mountains in the frame in many cases (even at 18 mm!). More aesthetically, these photos do no justice to the massive mountain views and expanses.  Nor do they capture the excitement and wonder experienced by the traveler. The light, the sound, the smell, and the energy of these places should be experienced first hand, whenever logistically feasible. At least, I think that is what he meant. Either that, or he also could have just been suggesting I invest in an 11 mm lens!!!

This was a view of Salkantay, over 10 miles away, the lateral aspect of which was just visible behind the slope in the foreground.

Steep climb, at about 13,000 feet elevation, on the way up to Tucarhuay Laguna, a glacial lake at about 14,000 feet. We had enough daylight to make this out and back side trip to the lake.  At this point, I had never been to this elevation or higher before.

Random horses and mules were seen grazing on the way. I was a bit surprised they could exist at these elevations, and apparently even thrive, judging by the looks of this one in the background.

Tucarhuay

Tucarhuay glacier and peak, up close. This is an 18,000 foot peak, observed from a 14,000 foot vantage point. If you are from Tucson, think looking up at an ice covered mount Lemmon from Oro Valley. Only, you are standing at an elevation that is as far above mount Lemmon as mount Lemmon is from Oro Valley, and then looking up that far again to the summit.

Tucarhuay laguna

Tucarhuay Laguna.  Again, couldn't get it all in the frame. No editing, that's the color.  The prior photo was taken from a similar vantage point, but looking up instead of straight ahead.  Imagine the peaks in the photo after and before this one are above the lake, and the lake is about a mile across.

Tucarhuay

The snow blew off this peak, which could be observed from our campsite all night. At 12,700 feet, the stars were as bright, dense, and numerous as I've ever experienced. The Milky Way was more of a swath than a concentration of individual stars. I spent over 30 minutes looking up in the dark that night, trying to take it all in while allowing for the light sensitivity of my eyes to maximize before the cold and fatigue drove me to rest.  The snow blowing off the peak could be seen all night that night, illuminated by starlight.

iphone panorama. This tends to shrink and distort, but it does squeeze it all in.

Salkantay

The light that filled the valley where we camped that night was incredible, but difficult to capture. The best way I could describe it is extremely crisp, as it seemed to make everything extremely sharp and clear, like as if the air was free of all particulate matter and humidity.

that night, true to form, I experienced spontaneous nosebleed at our campsite at 12,700 feet.


 Day 2:

Tucarhuay

Salkantay. This was our first unobstructed view.  We were not expecting to see it in its entirety; we were told it is usually shrouded in the clouds.

The trip up to Salkantay pass was a slow high elevation climb up a massive glacial river valley.  Of course, amazing views all the way.

 The glacial water running off this side was an interesting color.  I am unclear as to why.

 I thought the moss was really cool.  With nearly constant temperatures year round, the alpine life was unusual as compared to what might be seen outside an equatorial zone.

This meadow was about midway up to Salkantay pass from our camp. This was an opportunity to rent a pony over the pass.

 The recommendation for avoiding high-altitude sickness is to climb slowly. This afforded an opportunity to take frequent breaks to take in the scenery.

Salkantay Pass. At over 15,000 feet above sea level. The views of Salkantay peak and glacier towering at over 20,000 feet above elevation were awesome. The clouds now swirling around the peak and the day getting longer, we eventually had to start making our way down. I have not been more reluctant to leave a place I've ever been since I was a kid it was time to go home from Peter piper pizza.

Salkantay Pass

Salkantay Pass

Salkantay 

The views be on the pass along our descent were rewarding. By the end of day two, we were down to an elevation with large trees and thick grass; high rain forest.

Our guides passing by with fresh emergency horse (thankfully, no one needed him over the pass). They had a pace which was considerably swifter than ours.

By the afternoon on day two, we were back below the timberline into the high rain forest. Interestingly, not much pines at the timberline in the equatorial zone. Rather, we were into leafy trees at about 11,000 feet, directly below the tundra.

Camp on night two. With the longest two days behind us, we ate and slept extremely well. It was surprisingly chilly here at night, probably higher elevation than it looked. The night brought a dew that adequately irrigated this lawn, which had actually received very little rain at the end of the dry season, while we were visiting. 

Day 3: 

This day, which was originally planned to be a shorter, downhill day.

Avocados.

bananas

We finished fairly early, and had the afternoon to hang out at a hot spring at the bottom of a river canyon. A wildfire burned on the ridge on the far side. We were perplexed by the increasingly strong smell of smoke and heavy falling ash as the fire burned on the opposite side of the canyon down wind. This pano was taken the moment we realized that the fire had jumped the canyon and was also buring up wind on our side of the canyon as well. See the ridge to the left. 

After much deliberating (seriously, I know this one seems like a no-brainer, but we had some logistical problems to work out plus a lack of unanimity about the gravity of the situation and possible places to go, since we were supposed to camp in this canyon this night), we finally left the hole surrounded by an encroaching ring of fire. The bus actually stopped to pick up a local dad/child combo who were also fleeing the fire. It wouldn't be an adventure if there was not a threat of danger.

We ended up getting dropped of and completed our day 4 hike the night of day three. This was down a canyon shared by a train leading to Aguas Calientes, the town in the canyon below Machu Picchu.

Spooky.

Day 5: Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

The Inca Bridge

The Inca Bridge

Machu Picchu from  Huayna Picchu

Overlooking Machu Picchu from  Huayna Picchu, a 1000 foot/ 1 mile trip above the city. There were terraces and structures even at the top of this. Pretty amazing. This photo shows the terrace system, still functional today. These terraces create stability and allow for farming at high elevation by controlling runoff.  There were areas that were still being unearthed; apparently there are more terraces that have not been fully excavated.

This window creates a perfect shadow on the rock below, exactly on the equinox.

Chinchila

Chinchila

Chinchila, hanging out at a gap in  this building created by an earthquake.

Close up of the joints between the rocks.

Some kind of hinge at the front gate.

Entry, with  Huayna Picchu in the background.  Despite the small stature of the Inca, the doors were quite high - about 8 feet.  This is not well understood, as it is harder to defend.

Descending Huayna Picchu

 Huayna Picchu, descent. We only took a few pictures on this part of the trip, since hands were needed for much of it.

on the way down Huayna Picchu

Descending Huayna Picchu, a pretty sketchy trip at moments.

Machu Picchu from  Huayna Picchu

Up on  Huayna Picchu. There were buildings in locations that it was difficult to even get to. Whoever carried these rocks up here was dedicated.