Peru 2015/16 - G Adventures, Inca Trail - Day 2

Everything I had read, both official and personal blogs, indicated that this was to be the toughest day. I remember one blog (by a young person) where she said it was the toughest thing she had ever done. David, when asked, basically said that there were no options. If hurt, you would have to be carried out by porters. No helicopter. No horses. No options.
The porters woke us at 6:30am with offers of warm water to wash and hot tea. Breakfast of porridge and pancakes.

Ready to leave camp, porters had already packed most of it up.

We were hiking by 8am. Immediately it was up hill and I was having problems with my heart rate. It wouldn't take more than about 10 steps before I had to stop to bring my heart rate and respiration back down.
I am currently reading a book by Jane Christmas, What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim, and I cannot put it any better as she describes climbing the Pyranees at the beginning of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.
"My legs went rubbery. I kept my head down and focused on my inner core, because I could no longer take in the scenery and breathe at the same time. I walked 10 paces, then stopped to take 10 breathes, leaning heavily on my walking stick. I struggled to modulate my breathing"
I would add that I also felt nauseous when my heart rate was too high. I would stand, hands on my treking poles, head down until that passed and I could look around before starting again.
We quickly made our way up into the cloud forest which was nice and cool and shaded, respite from the hot sunny day.

Glimpses of mountains through the lush vegetation.

Air plants and Spanish moss.

Members of the group offered to take my pack or parts of it but I declined. Partly pride, partly knowing that I would be slower than anyone and might need that stuff.

Standing still, to get my heart rate down, did allow me to appreciate the magnificence of the location.

David pointing down to the valley we had camped in the night before.

We walked, up, for 2 hours before stopping for a break. I caught up with the rest at that point. There were more offers to take my pack. I declined. When we set off again David was walking behind with Christine and I. He knew the group would spread out and he needed to stay with the stragglers. He insisted on taking my pack and he said he would stay near me in case I needed anything out of it. I hung my water bottle from my belt and had my jacket around my waist.
The next 4 hours is a blur. I am glad I wrote a diary or I might think that it really wasn't that bad.

An incline like this I could probably do 10 stairs before stopping to get my breath. Steeper, sometimes
it was only 5 stairs. David advised me not to sit down, makes it harder. Advised me to try and breath
slower (easier said than done)

Photo by Danny or Fiona
We came out above the cloud forest and the views were easier to see. That piece
of stone in the foreground is a stair.

I no longer thought about Machu Picchu, or even making it over Dead Woman's Pass. It was just about putting one foot in front of the other, making it to the next spot I had determined for a rest. I occasionally walked with Chris and sometimes Jason was waiting for us but mostly it was a steady stream of hikers and porters making their way past me. At least they all seemed to be winded too. David was usually within sight, either with me or with Chris. He was our sheepdog.
At the next break I didn't see the Australians, they were long gone. From that break spot we could see Dead Woman's Pass. There was never any question in my mind as to whether I would get there, my only question was whether I would get there in daylight. I had no concept of time, just one foot in front of the other.....

Dead Woman's Pass (that's her head on the right). At this point I was probably still about
an hour away.

As I got closer I could begin to see people up there, they got gradually bigger, then I could hear them calling to their friends still on the way up and I could hear them cheering when someone got there. One advantage with being so slow was that I got to talk to a lot of people. They would rest with me or walk with me, we were all struggling; Ireland, England, Australia, U.S., Netherlands, Argentina, Peru, Venezuala and of course Canada. From my observations I would say, of the 200 tourists on the trail that day, 75% were under 30 and maybe 10 of us were over 60.

The last few stairs were so hard. Chris recons she crawled up them.

Everyone was cheered and applauded when they got to the top. At this point I was  adopted by a group of young Argentinian women who wanted to know my name and age and had their photos taken with me. They said they were my "Fawn Cloob", took me a while to figure it was "Fan Club" with an Argentinian accent. From then on every time they saw me they chanted "Carol, Carol" and it gave me a boost. Getting to the summit invigorated me, I wasn't tired anymore. I knew there was no more uphill that day. No more increased heart rate or breathing or nausea. I gratefully took my pack back from David.

We were at the highest point on our trek, 4,215 metres above sea level!

The view back the way we had come.

Over the pass. The next stage, 2 hours, steeply down.

The main concern on this part was the fear of twisting an ankle. The stairs were still very uneven and very steep. Chris has bad ankles and Jason, bad knees, down was harder for them than up. For me it was about placing the poles securely to transfer my weight and concentrating on the step down, much better than going up.

Chris carefully negotiating the down.

Waterfall behind the campsite.

The view from our campsite, we were on a level with the clouds.

Photo by Fiona
Our Australian family had found a spot to soak their feet in the ice cold stream and
I did the same.

It was a rocky, uneven walk to the toilets and this was the first camp site where all the groups camped. 6 toilets for 500 people. Toilets hadn't been great up to this point but now they were truly disgusting. A hole in the floor, and as your squatting, not everyone has great aim, water flushes down the hole. You try and use it without breathing.
Ryan had got there at 11:30, the rest of his family at about 1pm. I got there at 3:30 and Chris and Jason shortly after. We had lunch, rested, had tea, rested, had supper and slept. We had hiked 12 km and the itinerary indicated it should have taken 6 to 7 hours. It took me seven and a half. I knew now that although the rest wouldn't be easy, I had completed the worst day.