Peru

In June of 2017 we went to Peru to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. This was a top 3 trip of a lifetime.

This trip required a lot of forward planning, and I must give credit to Chris for arranging the most important details of our adventure, the dates, the hotel, and the tour company.

Why we went in June

June is the dry season. The average rainfall in Cusco in June is 2 inches. It is winter in the southern hemisphere. The months of May through September have the least amount of rain, but June historically has the least rain of all. You can find detailed climate data here. It’s not very warm in June, and it approaches freezing sometimes at night, but you can expect temperatures to vary between 33 degrees Fahrenheit to about 66 degrees. I find that the be a pretty sweet spot for moderate physical exertion.

The Winter Solstice

The Inca’s celebrate the Sun God during the Winter Solstice, also known as Inti Raymi, on June 24. We saw some of the preparations and celebrations, but we missed the main event. I would return to Peru during this celebration again to see more of it.

How to get a Permit

We booked our Macchu Pichu Trip and applied for our Permits through Alpaca Expeditions 1 full year before the start of our trip. My last email advertisement from Alpaca Expeditions shows that permits for the full year are released the October before. (Find updated info on when 2020 permits will be released.)

Tickets for Macchu Pichu

At this time you need a Permit to be on the Inca Trail, as well as a ticket to be at Macchu Pichu. The tickets on the site are only good for 4 hours. Our tour group arranged for us to have a ticket for the day after our hike was completed, we came back and had a much more leisurely stroll.

Tickets for Day hikes to Macchu Pichu Mountain and Huanapicchu

I did buy tickets to do a side hike, but by the time I got the site I was dead, I was tired, and I was so tired that money already spent could not motivate me to go any further.

The Huayana Pichu Hike

There are a limited number of permits available, 400 for the whole day, they are on a time schedule and you must be present to hike at your allotted time, and you have less that 2 hours to complete. The hike begins at an elevation of 8,031 ft, peaks at 8,230 ft. Between mile 1.5 and 1.8 you descend 800 ft at a 70% grade. And of course you will be climbing up out of that again. This 3.1 mile hike has a total of 1500 elevation gain. That can be quite a challenge after days on the Inca Trail.

The Macchu Pichu Mountain Hike

This hike is 2.4 miles, with a straight forward elevation gain from 8,030 ft to 9,933 ft for a total of approximately 1,800 feet. It’s pretty much up and down, with grades approaching 70% in some brief areas, but averaging about 40%.

Preparing for this Epic Hike

We spent months building up our hiking endurance. This included visiting Zion National Park to do Angels Landing, and also a trip to Big Bear to be hiking up at an elevation. Any elevation training you do is very important.

I tried to apply what I knew from my nursing education to train smart. Hiking in an O2 deprived environment triggers the production of Erythropoietin, which signals your body to produce more red blood cells, which leads to a greater oxygen carrying capacity. However, it takes at least two weeks to produce those red blood cells, do doing a strenuous hike 2-3 weeks before you arrive in Peru should help with the adjustment to the elevation.

Read more about our Preparations in our next post!