Salkantay Trek, Day 1: The Mountains
Cusco —> Soraypampa
The Salkantay Trail is the most popular alternative to the famous Inca Trail for people who want to hike through the Andes Mountains to Machu Picchu.
The day starts at 2:00 a.m. Our tour company picks us up at our hostel in Cusco and takes us three hours in car to Soraypampa, where the hike will start at 6:30 a.m.
Sorypampa --> Chaullay
The red line on the map below shows the path we will take through the mountains. This trek will last at least eight hours, not including time for breaks.
The Ascent
Abra Salkantay
After three hours, we reached the highest point on the Salkantay Trail: Abra Salkantay, or Salktantay Pass. The altitude here is 4,630 meters, or 15,190 feet above sea level. There was so much fog that there weren't any good views or pictures to take at this point.
The Descent Begins...
Vegetation
The vegetation and landscape were interesting. I imagine that these pictures show an ecosystem with species of life that we wouldn't see at lower ground, but despite trying to do a little bit of research online, I wasn't able to find a name or title of an ecosystem or habitat anywhere unfortunately...
My Co-Climber & Me
Lunch Stop
Soccer
Lodging (Colcapampa, Perú)
We spent the night in one of these "Andean Huts" at a lodge called "Camping Florentino" in Colcapampa, Perú.
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