Day 3 - Up 1000 Meters, down even more

January 22, 2010.
I woke up to see the beautiful snow capped mountains out of the window slit in the tent. It was a bit chillier as we were closer to the mountains. Today was going to be the most challenging day as we knew we had about 15km hike with the first half of it being all incline and the second half all downhill. We made our eggs that we had boughten from the food stand the day before and had a delicous egg, peanut butter, cheese sandwich. I needed all the carbs and protein i can get for this hike. We all new that today was going to be the most challenging, and just standing at our campsite looking at 3 mountians infront of us. We had to walk around the center mountain and disappear somewhere behind it. Further up the road, was a hotel for people who pay to go on the inca trail. It was beautiful and had balconies facing the mountains and of course a hot tub outside in the ground. It was closed for the wet season. It was a beautiful sunny day as we started our trip up the road. Our first challenge was to pass over a river, we knew there was a bridge somewhere and had to back track through the forest to find the bridge. And when i say bridge, it was a few wood logs wrapped together with mud and grass to fill the gaps. It felt solid, so across i went. There was another food stand across the bridge before we were to start on the trail. The boys bought another box of Gato red wine! GATO! I thankfully bought a snikers bar which helped me get through this rediculous hike we had today.

We started out with a few switchbacks that gradually got steeper, until finally the road became a narrow rocky path. It wasnt a nice easy walk, you had to constantly watch where you are stepping because of all the loose rocks on the ground. The switchbacks kept getting steeper and steeper and Ned and I were in the back of the bus (last in line) We climbed up each switchback and took a rest at the top. I found that after each streatch we did, i had to streatch my hamstrings and a drink of water was so refreshing to keep going. We both encouraged each other to keep going and would set goals. We would say, ók, lets make it to that rock´ and push ourselves to get there. Stretch, water, and here is where my snikers bar came in handy. Every once in a while, i had a bite and i swear it helped me go for about another 20 minutes. After a while it started to sprinkle and we stopped to put on our rain pants/jackets and poncho. I tied the ends of the ponco together and when i kept my hands inside, i was pretty warm. It was pretty cold out, and the rain didnt help, that i had plenty of layers on and didnt get over heated.

While Ned and I were at the end of the line, 2 boys passed us carrying a few supplies and were making it up the mountain with no effort. One was even wearing sandles. It didnt take long to loose them out of sight. We kept up the mountain, and probably a half hour later, passed them sitting behind a huge rock to have lunch. WE kept going to catch up to the other guys, when they passed us again. great! We never saw them again on the trail. We were growing so much in altitude that the landscape wasnt green grass, trees or forest anymore. We were getting into bigger and bigger boulders and rocks all over the side. We were walking for a few hours, and finally all i could think about was having a tuna sandwich for lunch and was wondering when the boys ahead of us were going to stop. We were planning on having lunch at a lake, but never found one. So we came up upon the boys sitting behind a huge boulder to block the wind and rain to have a snack. Just a snack, no tuna sandwich! They wanted to keep going to find this lake. Hello snickers! We kept going and Ned and I lost the boys once again. We kept climbing and finally made it to the top at around 4600 meters. Ned and I stopped and gave each other a high five and rested. That was such an accomplishment to get to the top of that hike. All around the boulders, people from past trips had built that little rock pyramid where you layer a smaller rock ontop another rock. I wanted to make one myself, but now was freezing cold, wet, and just wanted to get to this shelter where we were going to camp for the night. So i quickly found a rock and added it to another exhisting pyrimid that looked like it needed an addition. Maybe add some longevity to whose ever rock statue.

Now it was all down hill. When you think down hill, you think easy. Not exactly. The path was covered in all different sizes of loose rocks that you had to step around. and just as steep as the incline was, so was the decline. We had climbed up about 1250 m in altitude and were going down even further than that. Instead of just my body getting tired, my brain and eyes were just as exhausted. I had to conciously watch every step. My brain was working over load as my feet were taking the constant brutal beating of every step.

Finally getting to somewhat even ground, the rocks were still everywhere. Now mud and wet ground was another issue to walk through. At this point, i had lost all the guys and was all on my own. I really wanted to get to the camp so at times, i started to run through the maze of rocks. I would get so far until the weight of my backpack was too much or i just was too tired. In the distance, I saw what looked like two different houses. This inspired me to keep going and i started to run again. Finally, i caught up to the other guys at the river that we had to cross once again. I had picked out which rocks i was going to jump across so i wouldnt get wet. The first step i took, the rock moved and in both my feet went. I had managed to stay dry through all the rain,and now my feet were soaking. A little bit further, we crossed another small wood log brigde to get to one of the buildings. It was locked up. We stood under the overpain for a while just to get out of the rain. It was freezing cold and we were all hungry. We never did find that lake, so we decided to have lunch here sometime around 2pm. We really couldnt tell where we were from the map. We thought we were at either of two places. Lego walked up to the other house to see if anyone was there to find out where we were and if it was further to the campsite or if that was it. That too was locked and boarded up. Most of these buildings were closed because the inca trails are closed in february because it rains so much. After eating, we just decided to stay there. Also there was an open shelter on the side of the building that we could set the tent up under. The rain never stopped, it would only get stronger and lighter for awhile. I was so miserably cold. We made hot water for tea and to fill in our nalgeans to put into my sleeping bag. Another sandwich, and we just went to bed to try and get out of the cold. Even though we were under some shelter, our tent still leaked. So we had to line our sleeping bags up along the short distance. This time there were all 5 of us inside. It was a bit tight, but warm. With my bottle of hot water, I slept alot better than i thought I would. It was probably only 9pm when we all went to bed. It was such a tough, challenging day of about 15km, and we were all exhausted.

I started thinking, that a year ago, I never would have been able to do this trip after breaking my ankle. Thanks to this past rugby season and training as much as i did to get stonger and increace my endurance, i was able to keep going. It really was a big part for me to accomplish this day especially, but the whole trip in general. Thanks Amazons and Stephen (Lyons Gym!)