![\"DWP\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/DWP.jpg\")
<\/a>Dead Woman’s Pass<\/p><\/div>\n
If I just had one word to describe the hike on Day 2 it would be,\u00a0\u2018hard\u2019;<\/strong>\u00a0if I had two words, it would be \u2018very hard\u2019<\/strong>, if I had more than that this blog wouldn’t be rated PG. \u00a0It is a ball-buster! It\u2019s only about 6 miles<\/strong>, but it all up \u2013 very up. Patrick calculated that today’s hike is like climbing the stairs of a 30 story building . . . 10 times<\/strong>. We are on the trail at 7:30 and Humberto reminds us to take tiny steps to keep the heart rate down. He reminds us that there is no hurry to get to the next camp, that there is nothing to do once you get there anyway, so take our time.<\/p>\n The first section is 4\u00a0miles<\/strong>, all up, going from just under 10,000 feet elevation<\/strong> to just under 14,000<\/strong>\u00a0feet elevation<\/strong> at the summit at \u2018Dead Woman\u2019s Pass\u2019<\/strong> \u2013 so called because the mountains at the summit resemble a woman lying down. No women have died there to my knowledge. While we are on the subject of women, we saw a lot of them on the trail, so I asked Humberto if there were typically more women than men on the trail. He said yes. \u00a0Did you hear that Dorie Riddle<\/strong>?<\/p>\n Without a doubt there is a certain amount of euphoria when you hit Dead Woman\u2019s Pass<\/strong>, but it is short-lived as the next two hours will be spent pounding down the granite stone steps \u2013 not an exercise that is particularly good for my \u2018vintage\u2019 knees. After a \u2018mere\u2019 6 miles, we make camp at 12,000 feet<\/strong>, and retire early to another evening of partial sleep.<\/p>\n Day 3<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Heading into the ‘rain forest’<\/p><\/div>\n As we awake on Day 3, there is a certain amount of relief that we had survived Day 2, but Day 3 is no walk in the park;<\/strong>\u00a0in fact today it is rainy and cold much of the day, so I guess you could call it a walk in the parka<\/strong>. The day starts with another up-hill climb that lasts about two hours<\/strong> and then levels, which in Incan means up and down. Rain, fog, clouds and mist greet us at the summit as we now entered a more ‘rain forest’ environment – complete with rain! \u00a0As miserable as the weather sounds, we all agreed that these conditions added an almost mystical aura to the trek.<\/p>\n When we stopped for lunch, it was cold and windy and the soup the cooks had prepared really tasted good. We actually had soup for almost every lunch and dinner and, I know we were always tired and hungry at mealtime, but the cooks did a great job of offering a good variety of food, which always included cocoa leaf tea<\/strong> \u2013 I think I\u2019m hooked; I need to find a dealer in the U.S.! \u00a0We continued on until we stopped to make camp (OK, the porters had already gone ahead and made camp for us!) and had covered nearly 12 miles<\/strong>. Coupled with Day 2, it was two really challenging days of hiking \u2013 without much sleep.<\/p>\n Since this would be our last evening on the trail, we had a little farewell ceremony<\/strong> with the staff, where they presented us with a bottle of wine<\/strong> (our first alcohol in three days, although we did have the cocoa leaves going for us), and we presented them with their tips<\/strong>. We wanted to present the \u2018rookie\u2019 porter with a little higher tip, as he was the one who had to carry the \u2018potty\u2019 and the gas butane tank (a bad combination), but we were told that would just spoil him and he\u2019d always want to do that. The cook also \u2018baked\u2019 <\/strong>us a cake \u2013 I don\u2019t know how he did that out in the wilderness with no oven, but it tasted pretty good!<\/p>\n We were excited that we would finally get to see Machu Picchu<\/strong> in the morning and we were also very excited at the thought of taking a hot shower and sleeping in a real bed tomorrow night!<\/p>\n Next: The Inca Trail \u2013 Day 4 to Machu Picchu <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow Day 2 If I just had one word to describe the hike on Day 2 it would be,\u00a0\u2018hard\u2019;\u00a0if I had two words, it would be \u2018very hard\u2019, if I had more than that this blog wouldn’t be … read more<\/a>