Salkantay Trek: Back Door to Machu Picchu | Day 1

Challacancha

We were dropped off at the first trailhead where we will hike for 3-ish relatively

flat miles to the refugio where we will spend the night. The hike follows a canal

that the Incas, master hydrologists at the height of the empire, built. It is still in

use today, delivering mountain water to agricultural areas downstream.

This slice of the hike in a cloud forest would be the first taste of how stunning

the Andean landscape is. And how remote and wild. It is largely uninhabited

and for the hour or so hiking, we would run into not a single soul.

Salkantay Trek

Salkantay Trek

Salkantay Day 1-1-8

After the hiking across the valley, the terrain gradually started to slope up.

The great news is that the rain had finally subsided. From that point on, it would

be short switchbacks to a sharp incline where the unforgiving altitude would then

cause us to pause for breath every ten or so steps. The clouds broke and revealed

a blue sky. We would see Humantay Lake under a clear sky after all.

Ladies and gentlemen, amigos y amigas, the stunning Laguna Humantay (13,779')

capturing the glacial melt cascading down from Tucarhuay Mountain (19,521').

For scale, you can spot a grazing cow on the other side of the lake, up on a small hill. There's actually about four of them,

but the one in the center is the most visible. You can get a sense of how huge Lake Humantay is!

Then it was time to go. The steep, muddy downhill was slippery and tough to

negotiate with, but we had smiles plastered on our faces, the rewarding views

of the surreal glassy lake imprinted in our memory. The sun was just starting

to set. It was getting cold. The horses we passed in the valley, grazing,

made everything even more enigmatic.

It was a long way down, especially in the condition I was. I was dead tired,

mostly, I think, from sleep deprivation. I wanted to hustle to our refugio for

the night. But as fate would have it, we would miss the nondescript turn to

our lodging, adding fifteen precious minutes to our long day of hiking. We

eventually found our way before it got completely dark and without a bite of

dinner, I crawled into the cold bed under four thick blankets.

I slept for ten hours.

#hiking #adventure #peru #salkantay #latam