For years I have wanted to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. I was going to do it between med school and residency but the timing didn’t work out. I have 2 weeks of vacation starting in mid-April and I’m thinking of doing my Machu Picchu trip. The only problem is that I’m not sure I’m in good enough shape. Has anyone here hiked the Inca Trail? How seriously did you train before-hand? Currently I jog or use an elliptical trainer 3-5 times per week depending on my work schedule. My usual jog is 3 miles at about 12 minutes per mile. Is it reasonable to think that if I get serious about working out for the next 6 weeks I could hike the Inca Trail in April?
No experience with the trail, but I’ve been trekking in Nepal a couple of times.
My observation: running and hillwalking use rather different muscle groups. I was doing the same as you - running 5km three times a week - before the last time I went to Nepal and it probably helped my c/v stamina, but not the muscles used in walking uphill.
My trekking training comprised walking up the biggest hills I could find, once a weekend for about six weeks before I went. Didn’t really do much good.
However, the good news is that these muscles get very fit very quickly. Like, two days in. The first day is a nightmare, the second even worse because they ache from the first day, but by day three you’ll be fine. After a week I could have gone on walking uphill for like ten-twelve hours a day, and I was carrying 13Kg on my back too.
Here’s a comment on another board from someone who’s done it:
And here’s some general advice about it from the Lonely Planet. Book well in advance it seems.
You need to be in slightly better shape thatKarl Pilkington to hike the Inca Trail. But seriously, if you’re motivated and make an effort to get in decent shape I think it would be doable.
Read Turn Right At Macchu Picchu and then come back. 
I did it, while over 40 and a smoker. It was freaking hard, but I did it. Of course, we weren’t really trying to keep up with the group of 5 other 20 somethings!
I say yes, you can do this, with little training and in 2 wks. As long as you’re in pretty good shape, and possess a little fortitude, you should be okay. I confess, at the highest pass, I let Mr Elbows take my pack. I don’t think I’d have made it, up the last quarter, otherwise.
I had climbed to higher altitudes in Nepal, but didn’t acclimatize, as we were keen to go, so I actually had some altitude sickness issues. A first. Take two or three days in Cuzco before hitting the trail, you’ll be glad of it.
Have an awesome time, I am green with envy!
(Keep you eyes open, while in Cuzco, evenings, for a street vendor serving fried, perogyish looking things. Inside is peas and chillies, (I think, I could be wrong!), they are the yummiest street food going!)
I think you should be fine. The things you have to worry about are having sufficient time to get used to the high altitude and not rushing yourself. I went to Lake Titicaca first, which is quite high up there, so by the time I got to Cuzco and then onto the trail, I had actually come down a couple thousand feet and had a few days to get used to the altitude. I think that was a good plan.
The first day of hiking really isn’t too strenuous. The second day is the killer. IIRC, it takes around 5 hours to walk 4 miles or so, simply because 2/3rds of the trip is uphill, with probably 3/4 mile or so being seriously straight friggin’ up. Just stop, breathe, catch your breath, and keep going. It isn’t a race. Some people in my group got to the top of the pass quite quickly, the last group was probably an hour behind and really sucking wind. It is safe to say that they were not joggers, BTW. After day 2, it’s all downhill – which is its own special pleasure, but it is really, really beautiful.
I’m not sure this would make a huge difference, but I would lay off on the jogging and elliptical and find a stair climber, if possible. The hike up is much more like climbing a couple thousand meter-high stairway than it is jogging up even sizable hills.
If you have any other questions, I’m happy to offer more advice.
Oh! Be sure to get your trail pass/tour group booked pronto if you are serious about it. Access to the trail is limited and they sell out dates very often.
Thanks for the advice all. If I can’t find a tour within my timeframe and budget I’m going to do it.
I did it about 10 years ago, and while the actual climb isn’t that bad, the altitude killed me. I’d never been above sea level before, and wasn’t really prepared for how much it sucked. If you’re OK with altitude, you sound like you’re otherwise fit enough to me.
Unfortunately, if you haven’t been to altitude there’s really no way of predicting how your body will react. And even if you’ve successfully been to altitude it’s no guarantee that your body will react the same next time.
I had such a bad reaction to it I doubt I’ll ever voluntarily go above 5000 feet again. Ugh.
A good friend of mine, a tiny lady who probably doesn’t top 4’11" on a good day, hiked this trail last year with no problem. Of course, to get in shape she had climbed Mt. Baker several months previously. See below.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/809/800pxmountbakerfromboul.jpg/
True. Which is why my planning includes purchasing travel insurance that includes medical.
Most (and there are exceptions) people won’t feel any effects of altitude below 7-8000, aside from slightly diminished athletic performance. As long as you stay hydrated, avoid alcohol and caffeine, and get enough sleep you should be OK to fly into Denver. Every time you fly you’re in a cabin that’s pressurized to higher than 5000’.
I did it when I was 42 and not in particularly good shape. I’ve never had much of a problem with altitude and had hung out in Cusco for several days before hand. I hired a porter and went with a group that hauled all the camp gear, so all I carried was a day pack. It was easy for me.
I went and did it the fat American way: train ride to Aguas Calientes, bus ride up the mountain on the zig zag road, then I hiked around a bit while up there (and was still exhausted after several hours of that-- me and high altitude are not buds).
One thing I can tell you is that while sitting in my lovely train window seat, I saw many, many hikers. Same as when I got to Aguas Calientes and Mp. They all had one thing in common: they looked fucking miserable. Every last one of them. I don’t mean that they looked a little tired or dirty from hiking and camping, I mean these people were just dragging along like everything in their body was about to break, dead in the eyes, not a smile to be seen, just miserable.
And another thing to not ignore is the altitude. MP is lower than Cusco, but when I got off the plane in Cusco, I was 100% sure an Incan god flew up and punched me square in the face. Naturally, I did feel a lot better at MP, just because it is lower-- but that drag was still there.
So, can you hike it? Probably. I saw people of all shapes, sizes, and (apparent) fitness levels hiking. For me, I would have been too out of it after that long hike at such a high altitude to fully appreciate the amazingness of MP**, but that’s just me.
**And it really is the single most breathtaking thing I’ve ever seen in all of my travels. My favorite thing was to hike part way down (not too far) on the back side, since all the tourists are on the ruins on the front. When I sat on those Incan steps, looking out into the valley, I realized that I was staring at virtually the same vista that the Incans did those years ago. I’m not a particularly religious person by any means, but that was probably the closest thing to a religious experience I’ve ever had in my life.
Well, yeah. The last day of my hike was in steady rain, waking up at like 4 in the morning, cold as hell, feet aching, knees sore… And it was totally awesome after it was over! And I would do it again, too.
I don’t think the hikers you saw from the train were on the Inca Trail, BTW.
In my opinion there is a catharsis involved in going through (relative) hell to get to something astonishing, that actually heightens the experience.
When I hiked to the top of Poon Hill* I set off at 4am, was utterly miserable and cranky, low blood sugar so I was absolutely exhausted and felt like I’d never make it, vomited halfway up, altitude headache, thick fog everywhere… But then to reach the summit and relax and start to feel better, then watch the fog roll off and dawn rise over the Annapurna Range - and to know I was seeing this because of my effort alone - is something that is one of my lifetime’s peak achievements, and something I’ll carry with me until I die.
If I’d have flown straight into the middle of the Himalayan foothills I would have appreciated it of course, but it’s nothing like the sense of achievement you get from having endured several days of extreme effort to get to see it.
The experience was so incredible that I went back a few years later and put myself through all that pain and effort all over again. And the hot cocoa I gratefully bought at the top, from a guy who’d brought it up in the middle of the night in a large thermos balanced on his head, was one of the loveliest things I’ve ever tasted.
Plus, there’s runner’s (well, hiker’s) high.
*Stop tittering at the back.