After just one day on the Inca Trail, my expectations have already been exceeded. The drive from Cusco to the Sacred Valley was absolutely spectacular. The snow-capped cordillera and the steep verdant mountains were beautiful. The steep valleys reminded me of some of the most beautiful places I’ve seen on this trip: Nepal and Indonesia, not to mention Hawaii where we’ll be in a month’s time. We followed the Urubamba for the entire day, which our guide says is a tributary of the Amazon. The walking was pretty easy, with just a few short steep uphill sections. We did however stop frequently for long rests and little bit of commentary. I’d say we only walked about half of the time between when we started and when we finished. I guess some people needed the slow pace and at least everywhere we stopped was invariably scenic. As I did with some of our other hiking posts, I’ll try to be light on writing and heavy on photos, because trekking is a scenic pursuit but not a very interesting one to describe (or perhaps my writings not that good yet). So I hope you enjoy some of these photos.

drive to trailhead

beginning of the hike

looking back, notice the line of hikers struggling up

looking down into the valley at some old Inca ruins

Inca ruins near camp, view looking back at where we came from today