So, let’s start at the very beginning… In May of this year my husband and I were at lunch and chatting about places we would like to one day go. A goal of ours is to see all the Wonders of the World, although this is a bit of a moving target since there is no official list as far as I know, and the items on each version of the list vary slightly. Oh well, I guess that just means more traveling for us!
We decided to look into Machu Picchu as a travel destination and I did a quick Google search to see how feasible that is (I know, I’m so rude to be on my phone at the table!). In my search I learned that Machu Picchu is unfortunately suffering from damage due to too many poorly mannered tourists (like these folks) and it is possible that the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu itself could be strictly limited or even closed entirely to tourists at some point in our lifetime. We definitely wanted to go sooner rather than later! Also, we had decided that we wanted to hike the Inca Trail to get there and, to be frank, we wanted to do it while we were in decent shape.
After some internet research, we decided on the 4 Day/ 3 Night trek with Alpaca Expeditions because we loved that they provide local children the ability to see some of the local historical sites they may not afford to otherwise, were one of and maybe the only company I saw with women guides, had great reviews, and provided toilet tents at camp. I won’t lie to you and say that the availability of the toilet tents didn’t mean more to me than it should have.
To start your planning, you need to check the availability of the tour on the date you would like to leave. The tours fill up quickly because the trail requires a permit for each person and limits these to 500 per day. So, even if your tour operator is available, there may not be permits available. The next available tour start date for 2019 was October 27th, my birthday. Obviously, this was a sign so I submitted the inquiry and we got the planning process started!
Training for the Trail
During the months in between, we worked on improving our cardio and strengthening our legs in the gym. This included A LOT of stair climber work since a large portion of the Inca Trail is made of steps, and a good amount of calf strengthening since sore calves make for misery. I will tell you, we did NOT regret that leg work! In retrospect, I wish I had done more cardio since it’s so much tougher to do really anything at that altitude. We hiked around our area, but we are basically at sea level so very different!
Our workouts during this time were a little something like this with an occasional hike every other weekend or so thrown in:
Monday & Friday
8 min warmup on treadmill or stairclimber
3 x 15 hip thrusts, barbell squats, leg press, goblet squats, leg ext.
4 x 20 dumbbell calf raise
2 x plank for time
10+ min on stairclimber, as long as possible
Wednesday
Kickboxing! I love this class at our gym 😊 It’s def a cardio class.
Tuesday
8 min warmup on treadmill or stairclimber
3 x 10-15 incline dumbbell press, lateral raises, ez bar curls, hammer curls
2 x 8-10 heavy Arnold presses
4 x 10 superset preacher curls & weighted bench dips
3 x 20 plank ups & weighted Russian twists
10 + min on stairclimber, as long as possible
Saturday
8 min warmup on treadmill or stairclimber
3 x amrap pull ups (using a machine because I can’t do a real one!)
3 x 7-12 barbell row, rope lat pull downs
4 x 6-10 dumbbell single arm row, chest supported row, cable row
3 x 10-12 preacher curls and hammer curls
3 x 20 plank ups & weighted Russian twists
10 + min on stairclimber, as long as possible
Please keep in mind that this is just what we did, and is not necessarily a great training schedule for you nor am I certified to advise anyone. Fitness and exercise is just something I enjoy and this schedule is what works for me.
Insert obligatory gym selfie!
Packing for the Trail – What we did and didn’t need
We are not especially light packers, and we had 5 days of time to spend in Cusco, so we each brought one checked bag. I know some people make this trip with just their trail hiking pack holding everything, but I guess I just require more clean clothing than that would allow. Fortunately, our luggage had no issues arriving with us, but we did have a couple days before the trek started to allow for the luggage to arrive if it did get lost. (For a breakdown of the trail by day click here, and for a rundown of what we did and ate in Cusco click here!)
We trekked in October and below is what we brought in our packs (with links to faves!). The tour company we went with carried our tents and sleeping bags so you will notice they are not listed. Remember that everything you pack has to be carried, so the lighter you pack the better!
What We Brought:
- 4 changes of pants <- 2 pairs of leggings and 2 pairs of hiking pants (These)
- 4 long sleeve, but very breathable active shirts (These, specifically)
- 3 short sleeve active t-shirts
- 1 pair of sweatpants
- 1 sweatshirt (I brought a water resistant Lululemon and I definitely recommend one that is easy to take on and off! This one is expensive, but I have worn it so much)
- 1 packable down jacket (like this)
- 1 packable rain jacket (I brought this one)
- 4 pairs of wool socks (4 pack here!)
- 4 pairs of underwear
- 4 sports bras
- A baseball hat
- Buffs (Like this. I wore mine a lot after my ears were sunburnt)
- Sunglasses
- Sunscreen & bug repellent
- Deodorant
- Medicines in a pill case (Aleve/ibuprofen, Immodium, Tums)
- Ear plugs (highly recommend if you are a light sleeper and I stored these in my pill case so they didn’t get squished)
- 1 Water bottle for drinking around camp
- Headphones & my phone for music. I brought wired headphones rather than Bluetooth so I had fewer things to charge.
- Baby wipes for dirt and some semblance of bathing
- Dog poo bags for collecting trash
- Compact rolls of toilet paper
- Battery pack (mine is this one and it charges my phone multiple times)
- Snacks! Cliff bars mostly.
- Hiking boots, we choose boots over shoes for the ankle support since the trail is very uneven. We LOVED our boots (here) and our guide was wearing the same ones. They are pricey, but were so worth it for us, and we have used them a lot since!
- Hiking Pack with hydration pack and bladder (mine was 2 liters)
- Hiking poles (we rented ours from the company since we don’t use them at home. VERY glad we did! They helped so much for the downhill days.)
What I Would Skip:
- Skip the rain jacket and just bring a down jacket with a hood
- All but 3 pairs of pants. I only ended up wearing 3 of the 5 pairs I had on me (including the pair I wore on day 1 that wasn’t in my pack at the start). I would bring two pairs of leggings and one pair of hiking pants.
- NO t-shirts! The long sleeved shirts were perfect for sun and bug protection and breathable enough to not overheat.
- Toilet paper, or maybe just bring one roll. Our tour company provided it and I never needed to use mine.
- Reduce snacks to just a couple Cliff bars. They fed us plenty and I only needed a snack a couple times, and it was just half a bar.
- The water bottle for camp. We were provided a cup for water at camp and it was perfect for our needs. In the tent we could drink from our packs.
Regardless of the time of year you are trekking, I strongly encourage you to wear long sleeves. The sun is very, very strong and both my husband and I were burned even with sunscreen. And please don’t skip a coat/jacket of some sort, because it gets so cold at night and some places where you will rest are at very high altitudes so you don’t want to freeze.
The last thing I recommend you do for prep is to make and download a killer playlist for the hike! There are some parts that are really difficult so having music that hypes you up helps you to push through. My playlist includes a lot of Britney Spears, Lizzo, and early 2000s jams that energize me. I also downloaded a few episodes of podcasts, which were particularly nice to listen to when going downhill since you are moving slowly and your focus is on balance rather than stamina.
I hope this helped you to plan your trek and please let me know if you have any questions!
