Inca Trail Altitude Sickness: Peru Day Eight

Last Updated on January 24, 2024 by Tori Pines

Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, one of the greatest bucket list items you could imagine, and we are in the thick of it. Day three, the one with the most beautiful views. And the day the Inca Trail altitude sickness will finally catch up with us.

My sister Ally and I visited Peru for a ten day adventure through the country. We went sandboarding in Huacachina, took a Lima cooking class and now we are hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

If you haven’t had a chance to read days 1-7 of my Peru Journals, I recommend you start there. I’ll keep you on the edge of your seat to learn all about what happened to us on day three of the Inca Trail. In the middle of the Andes Mountains, on the side of an ancient ruin… You’ll just have to come right back to find that story out.

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Okay, you back? Let’s go.

We woke up, after a surprisingly great night’s sleep, on day three, slightly less energized and incredibly sore. I mean come on, we just hiked Sleepy Woman’s Pass yesterday! Almost 4,000 feet of elevation gain!

Our legs are dead, and we have two days left.  We got up for breakfast feeling uneasy. Our stomachs hurt and our heads were pounding. Not to mention our hands and feet tingle. Yep, we are experiencing the Inca Trail altitude sickness in full force today. The elevation is catching up with us. And yes, we have been taking a altitude sickness prevention subscription that we got from our doctor back home.

So just to recap, the Inca Trail altitude is between 8,000 feet and 13,800 feet above sea level. That’s really high. Denver, known for being the “mile-high city” is only 5,200 feet above sea level.

We tried to eat some of our breakfast, but honestly we wanted nothing to do with it, no matter how delicious it was. We had a cup of coca tea, to try to help fight off the Inca Trail altitude sickness any chance we could.

Despite the way I was feeling, I had actually been looking forward to this day the most. Everything I had heard during my research for the hike said that day three was by far the best. And you better bet, I did a TON of research.

We will hike the most amount of miles today, but have the least incline. The best part? You’re officially in the Amazon Rainforest and the views are supposed to be insane. The best views along the hike today of the whole thing. And it’s been stunning so far, so I cannot imagine how it can get better.

Nervous for the hike ahead and how our legs and stomachs would handle it, we had to get going. We started on the trail at about 7:00am.

I was immediately angry. And frustrated with both myself and the people’s blogs that I read. The trail ahead might be beautiful, but they didn’t explain what the first two hours would be like. At least I don’t remember reading anything about it. It was horrendous.

The hike starts straight up. The second you leave the campsite you are greeted by thousands of stone steps. With our bodies being sore and feeling so sick from the Inca Trail altitude sickness hitting us, we couldn’t handle it. This is supposed to be the easy day!!

We chugged up the mountain, taking about 20 steps each time before braking to rest.  Yesterday was hard but I had a smile on my face the entire time. I was positive and knew I could handle it.

This morning I’m just pissed. This is painful and awful and so, so slow. I felt like I would never make it to the top. But I continued on, eyes on the ground, just focusing on making it up 20 more steps.

After an hour, and not getting very far, we made it to the first stopping point, an Incan ruin.  Seriously though, you could still see the campsite down below. We really had not gone far in an hour. Ouch.

We enter the ruin and next thing I know, Ally is gone. I found her outside the ruin and let’s just say, she wasn’t handling the Inca Trail altitude sickness well. It was hitting her even harder than me. I felt so bad and just tried getting her some water and electrolytes to settle her stomach.

We spent a little while at the ruin, learning more Incan history from our incredible G Adventures guide Gerry. But when the lesson was over, I immediately started on the trail again. I was one of the slowest in the group (I blame my asthma and crappy lungs), so I liked getting a little head start when I could. Head down, one foot in front of the other.

There were some rocks along the side of the trail to rest on, but they are sharp and uncomfortable, and all I want is my couch right now.

After 30 more minutes, we reached a little lake where we rested a little more before continuing on. The lake was pretty, and definitely unique to find, way up here in the mountains.

After the last 30 minutes, we FINALLY reached the top of the pass. It was seriously the hardest two hours of my life. We were so worn out and sick from the altitude sickness. It was miserable. But just like that, we reached the top and the rest of the day would only be uphill from here (or should I say downhill? Either way, it’s figuratively speaking of course, haha!).

The views on the other side of the mountain are stunning, breathtaking, and this is only the beginning. The photos really don’t do it justice.

We hiked down the mountain for a long time. I was happy and back to smiling as I hiked, enjoying every second. Our stomachs started to settle and we munched on some of the snacks we had in our backpacks.

We reached the next Incan ruin after an hour and a half, and this one was by far my favorite along the trail (other than Machu Picchu, of course). It was easy to explore and had stunning views of the mountains. Gerry taught us about how this was likely a fort of some sort, meant to protect the people below. When cleaning up the ruin, they found many weapons here.

We hiked for three more hours before we reached our lunch spot. And I will never be able to explain the beauty of the land we traveled through.  The trail wove through ruins, around the edges of the mountains, and through the jungle terrain. The air was cooler here, and wet again, the way yesterday morning was. You could almost feel the moisture in the air. It felt good on my lungs.

The best surprise was a family of wild llamas we happened upon. Just out here, alone, in the middle of the Andes Mountains. These llamas were eating grass and living their best lives. They must not get Inca Trail altitude sickness like we do…

The llamas were so chill! They just wandered around, and did not seem bothered by us at all. We hung out with them for a while, trying to get some photos of them and just watch them wander before we had to say goodbye. Or should I say, “tupananchiskama”. (Read Peru day seven if you don’t understand that reference)

We continued along the trail, through caves, to what would be the best lookouts over the mountains. I was so happy here, I was practically skipping. I wanted to stop every five seconds for another photo. To capture this beauty as best as I possibly could. But, since the path was literally on a cliff through here, I had to be extra careful. Just look at that drop!

The trail still had a little bit of uphill parts, but it was as Gerry called it, undulating. Up and down, up and down. The jungle terrain eventually parted, and we were on the top of a mountain again. But this time, we looked out over the other side, and down below sat a town! Like a real life town, not an old Incan ruin!

Ally said, “Tori! Check your phone! Do we have service?!” And we did. We dialed our mom’s phone number faster than you can say “mama llama”.

It had been over 48 hours since we had service and our mom…well, she worries. She was beyond excited to hear our voices and we were thrilled to hear hers. We chatted for a few minutes, but we had to go because lunch was just steps away.

We sat for lunch with a new spring in our step. And, I am finally hungry now. Starving actually! (Unfortunately Ally’s stomach was still not doing well so she wasn’t quite as excited for food. But at least she felt better now that mom knew we were alive.)

We were served a four course lunch again, at our lunch site looking over the stunning backdrop. Just look at that view. And the view out the tent window…I had lunch with a sweet llama.

That’s when the chefs came into the dining tent with our dessert…a cake! A literal cake that they cooked on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. Without a stove…or even a fire. Apparently they made it here at 9am to start steam-baking it! Yes, that’s 4 and a half hours before we made it. These porters are incredible and so fast.

The sun was incredibly strong here and I could feel myself burning with every second that passed, so I applied three layers of sunscreen, put on my super cute bucket hat, and we were on our way to finish out the last 3 hours of the hike for the day.

I really didn’t think I would need a hat on this hike, I would just apply plenty of sunscreen. But I was so wrong. And were were there in June, during their winter! You 100% need a sun hat so order one like this before you go. You’ll thank me later!

I’ll be posting a ton more information about hiking the Inca trail soon. Including a thorough packing list! SO, Sign up to my email list so that you can be the first to find out when a post is live!

Our group hiked together, chatting and enjoying our time together and this beautiful setting. We really loved our group. Our sweet “llama family” as we called them.

We made it to camp just barely before sunset. It was truly a FULL day of hiking. And other than the worst two hours in the whole world this morning. It was an incredible day.

We finished off with beautiful views over the mountains, tea time, then dinner. And to top it off we had the little “ceremony” with our porters to thank them for their incredible work and give them tips. We would be saying goodbye to them in the morning, since we head to Machu Picchu, and they head to Aguas Calientes, also known as Machu Picchu town.

Many of them would be starting the trail over the following day. Can you imagine? Doing it all over again right away? I mean, I definitely want to do this again, but not this week, that’s for sure. They are some incredible people and very hard workers.

The campsite tonight was the worst yet. Because, there are more groups now than when we first started. Some people start the trail about two thirds of the way in. They skip out on the hardest part and just do the end.

So the campsites are small, and the bathroom is…much less than ideal. Let’s just say Ally and I chose to use what Gerry calls the “ladies bush” instead. It’s been squat toilets for the last day and a half, no more proper toilet bowls. For those interested, I’ll leave a photo here of a squat toilet, but this was the cleanest one we saw…not like the one we are offered tonight…

In the morning we will be waking up at 3:30am. We will get ready, have a quick breakfast and then walk down a few minutes to the guard booth.  That’s where we will wait for the gate to open to continue along the trail to finally make it to Machu Picchu.

I’m so excited, but also so tired that I have no trouble falling asleep. Our last night in the Andes Mountains. Some people may hate this type of accommodation, but I will miss it a lot. I love it out here so very much. Despite the terrible Inca Trail altitude sickness.

Be sure to read Day 9 in Peru when we finally reach the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu! It will finally hit me tomorrow, it was never about the destination. It was truly and completely, all about the journey.