Slow and steady wins the race.

Thursday August 28th, 2014

Inca Trail, Peru

It’s 4:45am Central Time. Darwin, aka Mom, is knocking on our tent door. He comes bearing hot coffee. I already love him. 

As it was explained during last night’s trail briefing, Day 2 is the hardest day by a landslide. It is almost entirely uphill with a very steep descent at the end. The group will start at 9800 feet, summit at 14000 feet, and descend to 12,000 feet. It’s not a long hike, but it is steep. Most of the trail will take place on original Inca stairs; they will be historical, magical, beautiful, wobbly, slippery, and uneven. I know that I’m in for a challenge.

The first half of the day is 2 big uphill pushes. The air is thin and I am tired. Laura and I pace ourselves and come up with a plan that involves moving at a very slow pace but only stopping every 15 minutes for a quick sip of water. This methodology gets us to the first checkpoint near the front of the pack. I can’t believe we are not the slowest ones! This is going so much better than I thought. The next big push is similar in length but definitely steeper. We continue with the plan of moving really slow and get to the lunch site in the middle of the pack. Lunch is slightly delayed, but I am feeling happy and chat enthusiastically with my new trail friends.

After lunch, we have one more uphill push to the summit of Warmiwanuska, which is also known as Dead Woman’s pass. This will be the highest point on the trail and the farthest above sea level that I’ve ever been. I am ready to make this happen. Well, my brain is ready, my legs and lungs are not so keen.

I start to drag on this part of the trail. The altitude finally hits me. This is what I was afraid of. Over the course of nearly 500 feet, the entire group passes us by. We are taking each step extremely slowly and only 20 paces from the top I have to stop. I want to push forward but physically can not. Laura waits with me. I start to tear up because she is so nice. It takes almost 10 minutes for the two of us to make it to the top. 

Once we arrive, it’s extremely windy and foggy. I want to rest, but it’s very uncomfortable, plus I am starting to worry about time, we still need to descend 2000 feet before dinner and I can barely breathe or move my legs. 

This side of the mountain has drastically different conditions. The fog continues and a light rain coats the large rocks, which act as steps. I am extremely grateful for my hiking poles and have no idea how anyone could navigate these slippery rocks without them. Even though I am feeling the constant stress of slipping, I’m still relieved to no longer be hiking uphill. Laura is struggling though. Her knees hurt and she is moving slow. I guess that one woman’s downhill is another’s uphill. 

We arrive at the campsite about half an hour before tea time. We are not at the end of the pack but have definitely lost momentum. We rest briefly and then decide to pull it together for tea and popcorn. I really don’t want to go, but the guides are calling us and I’m not sure how to say no. Once we sit down with the rest of our trail mates, we learn that at least half of them slipped and fell at some point during the descent. I enjoy the commiseration of the group. 

At dinner, I am totally exhausted and have no appetite at all. I take one serving of everything and methodically chew and swallow it all bite by bite. It feels like work as I give myself a miniature pep talk for each bite. 

When I finally lay down to go to sleep, all of my muscles are screaming for relief. I can not get comfortable and lay awake for most of the night.