The Trail Above the Clouds
One hundred years ago, an archeologist and his team set off to explore Machu Picchu and the ancient civilization of the Inca in South America. They arrived in Lima, Peru on a steamship, and then traveled by bus to Cusco, the former capital of the Inca, where they paused for three days to adjust to the altitude.
From there they traveled on a wagon drawn by mules while their equipment was carried by llamas to Piscacucho. They were now high in the Andes Mountains.
After years of planning and months of travel they were so close to their destination. Machu Picchu was now only twenty-eight miles away, but it was a treacherous twenty-eight miles that had claimed many lives.
Located high in the Andes of Peru, the ancient citadel of Machu Picchu was built for the Inca emperor Pachacuti in the fifteenth century. It is one of the most spectacular wonders of the world and is believed to have been a royal retreat or a sacred religious site.
That night our archeologist lay awake thinking about the first time he read the issue ofNational Geographicthat detailed the American explorer Hiram Bingham’s discovery of this lost city of the Incas in 1911. He must have read that issue a hundred times as a child. He had been dreaming of visiting ever since.
And now he was so close.
The archeologist spent the next day talking to locals about guides and porters. Who were the best? Which had the most experience? Could any speak English? Late that afternoon he settled on a team of guides and porters, negotiated rates of pay, and agreed that they would set out at sunrise the next morning.
Although they were a mere twenty-eight miles from the iconic ruins of Machu Picchu, it would take at least five days, the guides had explained. The archeologist knew this, but he had studied the route and believed it could be done in three days.
Machu Picchu is nestled in the Andes mountains at 7,972 feet above sea level. But in order to reach it you have to climb to Warmi Wañuska at 13,828 feet before descending to the lost city. This path is known today as The Inca Trail.
That evening he reviewed this final leg of the journey with his team and the guides.
The guides explained that the trail would immerse the archeologist and his team in stunning landscapes, from rainforests to vast open valleys, deep canyons to high plateaus, rugged mountain terrain to cloud forests. It was because of these cloud forests that the locals named it “the trail above the clouds.”
But the guides also warned that for all its beauty, the last twenty-eight miles of their journey presented an endless array of danger. It was a high-altitude battle against slippery rocks and unpredictable weather. A single moment of distraction could be fatal.
There was also the risk of mountain sickness, which is brought on by rising and falling altitudes, and causes headaches, dizziness, shortness of breath, loss of energy, nausea, and vomiting. So, while this final stage of their journey was not very long it presented a myriad of challenges.
Along the way they would pass a handful of other ancient Inca ruins, but the archeologist had no intention of pausing to explore those.
At sunrise the next morning they set off. The archeologist immediately set such a grueling pace that even the guides struggled to keep up. His team and th
