Day 7 - Last Hiking Day (4)
Sunday, September 28
Views like this just never get old!
La Playa (6,716 ft.) → Hydroelectric (6,200 ft.)
Hiking Mileage: 8 miles
Elevation Gain: 1,978 ft.
Elevation Loss: 2,461 ft.
Highest Elevation: 8,694 ft.
Trekking Time: 7 hours
Today was our earliest wake up - 4:30! We had an afternoon train to catch and didn’t want to risk missing it, so we moved our start time up by 30 minutes. As usual we were greeted with coffee at our tents and a breakfast feast shortly thereafter.
We were on the trail by 6:20! Today’s trail was uphill for about 2,000’ and then we would descend for 2,400’! And after yesterday’s 11 miles (mostly down!) we were all prepared for a rough go of it. Nevertheless, the weather was perfect - clear with high clouds (so no hot sun beating down on us) and moderately cool (50 - 70F as the day went on).
After 3 1/2 hours, we reached the rest stop at the highest point!
Once we left the rest stop, we joined the Inca Trail, and shortly after beginning our descent, we stopped at the Llaqtapata Inca ruins (8,694 ft.) from whence we could look down and see Machu Picchu in the distance.
We didn’t stay too long as we still had a looong way to go (and a train to catch!). Haku!
The trail down was switchbacks - steep, rocky, and root-y - it felt like New England hiking! (One of us may have stumbled off the trail and into the shrubbery - thank God for the shrubbery to keep the stumbling from becoming tumbling!) When we reached the bottom, we crossed the river via a very wobbly suspension bridge, on which we could only pass 3 people at a time. Again, courage was summoned for the crossing!
Once we were across the bridge we had another 45 minutes or so of pretty flat dirt road walking to Hydroelectric, where we are having lunch and getting the train to Aguas Calientes. This is pretty much a row of souvenir stalls and street food vendors by the side of the train tracks. Again, our chef/sous chef had access to an open air kitchen where they prepared our last trekking feast for us and we said good bye to them. Lunch: Quinoa soup, mashed potato with mint wrapped around guacamole, vegetables, chicken with pepper cream sauce.
We had a 40 minute train ride to Aguas Calientes, a quaint mountainside tourist town right below Machu Picchu.
Upon arrival we walked to our hotel where our bags were waiting for us, and we wasted no time taking our first showers five days, putting on clean clothes and shoes that weren’t hiking boots! We had a late dinner reservation so we went out and about shopping before meeting up for dinner at Indio Feliz.
Aguas Calientes is a lovely town with markets and a town square - none of which I photographed, because I was tired and I wanted to feel a little less like a tourist for a bit.
Tomorrow, we’re up at the crack of dawn to visit Machu Picchu!