Inka Trail - day 2 - Dead Woman's Pass

Since our first day in Cusco when we had our trail orientation Jeff and I, along with all of our friends/hiking mates had been anxious about our second day on the trail. The trail on day 2 consisted of 4 hours of hiking climbing almost 4,000 feet of altitude, the last two hours were to be straight up, and the last 45 minutes were the worst from what we were told. Once at the top, we would have 2 hours back down to our camp for the second night. To say that I was nervous would be an understatement, the name doesn't do much for your confidence and I was just hoping the hiking and hours clocked on the stair climber at the gym over the summer would help me. It was tough, especially because of the altitude but it was fun, gorgeous and so amazing once we got to the top.

gotta love the jeff selfies

the scenery was breathtaking, the pictures don't hardly do it justice

all of the porters are these small men ages 16-52 (was our oldest porter). It was amazing and totally embarrassing to see them running past us on the trail carrying these huge bags that were bigger then some of them. According to the Peruvian government they can each carry up to 27kg which is about 48 lbs! 

if you look close at the pic above you can see a day camp at the bottom of the alley and small people climbing the trail on the right side. This doesn't show how steep it was but it was pretty much straight up and down stairs at this point. I am so glad we rented walking sticks, they made all the difference!

the woman above was 62, so impressive!

below: some of our group at the top of Dead Woman's Pass

heading back down, you can see the mist that started to settle. It sprinkled on us during our hike down and the rocks were slippery but we lucked out and made it to camp just as the rain started to increase. We made excellent time and completed what should have been a six hour hiking day in just 4 hours and got to enjoy a nap in our tent listening to the rain before dinner. 

day two, not peace. Peace too i guess

the view from our camp that night was awesome

quinoa crusted chicken fingers, my favorite (most plain) meal on the trail

Dead Woman's Pass