Salkantay Trek - May 2018
Summary
The Salkantay Trek is a less popular alternative to the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru. This trail can be completed without a guide and therefore at your own pace and without prior reservations. We elected to go this route and had 0 issues doing so. We carried all of our food and backpacking supplies on our back, however there were many opportunities to get cooked meals in villages or buy fruit or snacks along the way. You may get some negative looks from tour-led groups travelling without a guide, but don’t let that discourage you from saving quite a bit of money and having the flexibility of travelling independently.
Where
This trail is in Peru, outside of Cusco. For anyone attempting this hike from outside of Peru, you typically fly into Lima, Peru’s capital and then have options of transportation to Cusco and ultimately Soraypampa, a starting point of the Salkantay Trail.
Logistics
It is a challenge getting to the trailhead for this trail. Our route was a flight into Lima, another flight into Cusco. We spent 2 days in Cusco acclimatizing, before taking a taxi directly to Soraypampa, where we started our hike. As we did not have a tour guide, we either dispersed camped, or set up camp in a small village along the trail.
Hiking
Day 1: Soraypampa to Salkantaypampa with a side hike to Humantay Lake
The first day we arrived in Soraypampa late in the morning. We decided we would include a side hike to Humantay Lake as part of our first day. This first hike was challenging, largely because we were not used to mountain hiking at 10,000ft+. The views at Humantay Lake were incredible, and we spent the majority of our lunch break exploring the area and taking in the sights. We then hiked back down to Soraypampa to decide how we would handle the second half of the day. The days in Peru in May were very short, so planning out long hiking days was challenging to do, especially when we needed to find a place to sleep each night. After some rest and home cooked meals, we decided to press on to Salkantaypampa. This was a great decision as the views in the mountains were incredible. We ended up sleeping at over 14,000 feet, and that was pretty uncomfortable and cold, however the view of the stars at night and in the morning certainly made the pain worth the reward.
Day 2: Salkantaypampa to Challway through Salkantay Pass
Our second day started very early as we had a long day of hiking ahead of us, and couldn’t sleep well due to the altitude of our camp. This was a unique experience for many of us and caused a number of problems. We were all well aware of the symptoms of altitude sickness and lack of oxygen, but experiencing some first hand was out of our comfort zone to say the least. Regardless, we pressed on in the morning slowly reaching the Salkantay Pass at over 15,000 feet. This was an incredible achievement. We optimistically rested at the pass knowing the remainder of our hiking would be at lower altitudes and mostly declines. From Salkantay Pass we hiked through Wayramachay and Rayanpata until we ultimately arrived in Challway to end our day. We arrived early in the day (daytime hours were low in Peru, so we made a goal to get to our stopping point around 4-6pm knowing by 6 it would be starting to get dark). We rented a place outside someone’s home and the family offered to cook food for us. This was a pleasant surprise! We even got to take showers in Challway!
Day 3: Challway to Lucmabamba
On day 3, we continued our descent into Peru’s rainforest. This gave us a glimpse of very different scenery. We walked alongside mountain faces, saw waterfalls, and lush plant life. During our day, we hiked into a small forest village for a stop to watch locals playing soccer. One of the greatest benefits of this hike and the location was the access to fresh fruit. We stopped at the village and ate many different kinds of fruit. We continued to press on from this village passing a number of different smaller villages, until we ultimately made our way to Lucmabamaba. Once in Lucmabamba, we negotiated a place to sleep outside of one of the refugios. After setting up camp for the day, we went upstairs to enjoy some of the best coffee we had ever tasted. The coffee plant was grown less than a mile from Lucmabamba and they ground the coffee beans by hand! We again arrived early and enjoyed our time to relax and “people watch” as other groups of backpackers used this same location as a resting point for the day.
Day 4: Lucmabamba to Hydroelectrica
Day 4 marked our last day on the Salkantay Trek. It started with an intense ascent from the rainforest where we stayed last night, to open views of the surrounding mountains. We eventually were rewarded with our first views of ancient Incan ruins, as well as, a distant view of what we came all this way for (Machu Picchu). In hindsight, what we saw first, would be the most untouched ruins of the trip and represented a very unique experience compared to the tour of Machu Picchu. Nonetheless, we enjoyed these views and structures for some time before continuing on our descent into Hydroelectrica. This day was hot and humid and presented many challenges for our group. We needed to make a decision to either attempt to catch a train in Hydroelectrica or commit to walking the train tracks to our final destination. We chose the train, and pressed on in the day’s heat. Thankfully we made it in time to catch the last train into town and no one experienced any major heat-related issues. We then settled into our hotel and prepared for an early rise the next morning to tour Machu Picchu.
Day 5: Machu Picchu and Waynapicchu
Our tour of Machu Picchu was the earlier of the two time frames. We took the first bus to Machu Picchu, which required a very early start to our day. The early morning was well worth it, as Machu Picchu was very crowded and has many tourists daily. Thankfully once we were allowed into the ruins, things spaced out quite a bit. In addition to our entrance to Machu Picchu, we also decided to ascend Waynapicchu to get to see Machu Picchu from a different perspective. This was a challenging, somewhat dangerous climb, but was incredible! All in all, Machu Picchu was a great tour and something I am sure our group will remember for the rest of our lives. The only negative takeway I had, was the amount this site has become a tourist attraction. I am aware this site is of great importance to the locals and also serves as a great source of revenue, however it was challenging to take it all in, with the amount of tourists running around.
