The Lares Trek

If you’re like Graham and I were in February, you’ve probably heard a lot about the Inca Trail and absolutely zero about the Lares Trek. The Lares Trek is another Inca trail near Machu Picchu in Peru. It is not *the* Inca Trail, but there are thousands of miles of Inca trails in Peru.

You may be thinking, “Ok, so why would someone choose to hike the Lares Trek instead of choosing the Inca Trail?” The answer: Because they booked their trip too late.

The Inca Trail is limited to 500 hikers per day to preserve the trail, and official permits are sold in advance. We booked our trip in February, and April was already completely booked. We thought it would have been cool to do the Brand Name trail, but we mostly just wanted to hike in the Andes, and the experience of a difficult, multi-day trek.

Once it was all said and done, I think everyone in our hiking group was glad we did the Lares Trek instead. Unlike the Inca Trail, the Lares Trek is not crowded – you have the Andes and the trail completely to yourself. Your bag is also not limited by weight, because the Lares Trek allows horses and alpacas. That became critical during the trip due to the rain – we were so thankful for our extra layers and dry clothes. Hiking in the Andes during the wet season requires a whole extra level of gear preparation, one that we were not entirely ready for.

The Lares Trek was the hardest thing that both Graham and I have ever done. We hiked harder and longer than we’ve ever done before. Altitude was a huge factor – the summit was over 16,000 feet. We were cold and wet most of the 3 days. I spent most of the climb up wishing I was literally anywhere else. I spent most of the hike down wincing in pain from the pressure on my knees and toes during the unrelenting downhill grade. It was hard. There were moments when it was no fun at all. But it was one of the most rewarding experiences of our lives, and we are so glad we did it. Once.

Below is a day by day breakdown of the trek, and photos.

Note: I didn’t prepare well for the rain we encountered while hiking, and my camera stayed wrapped up in a waterproof bag for a lot of the first two days on the trail. I was incredibly grateful that one of my fellow group members, a great-spirited Canadian and new friend Mike Wong, did a much better job than I did of capturing the first few days. He has generously allowed me to use a few of his fantastic photos in this post. All of his photos are credited beneath the photo. (Thank you Mike!)

 

We started our hike in the afternoon, and had only a moderate amount of ground to cover on day one. The issue was the rain. It started lightly raining shortly after we set out, and progressed into a complete downpour. Here’s us starting off into the mist:

Photo by Mike Wong

It rained harder and harder. At first we tried to stay somewhat dry, and then just completely gave up. We were drenched through to the skin. Each step felt like I was stepping on a wet sponge – my boots were completely soaked through. It was cold.

We eventually got to the first campsite, and we all looked as if we’d swam there. The porters decided to set up all the tents inside the shelter that they use for cooking – we were lucky that it was big enough for all our tents. I changed into a thermal top which immediately became cold and wet from the moisture on my skin. I changed again into my only other long sleeved shirt. We climbed into our sleeping bags and tried to get warm. It took about an hour to fully warm up. Morale was very, very low.

We had dinner (absolutely delicious – the porters and cooks are superheroes) and went to bed in our tents, wondering how on earth we would get through 2 more days. Or if we wanted to. Or what we’d wear – most everything was still wet.

 

We woke up the next day at 5am, had breakfast, and were out on the trail before the sun rose. We tied plastic bags around our feet, over our socks and underneath our boots, because our boots were still soaking wet. Nothing that got wet the previous day was dry, nor would dry for the entire rest of the trek. The mood was low. We began the 7-8 hour hike uphill to the mountain pass.

We hiked up steep, rocky hills. We hiked around small crater lakes. We hiked on and on, up and up.

Photo by Mike Wong

If you have ever wanted to know what it’s like to be a mountain goat or an alpaca, you can find out on the Lares Trek. We trudged up steep slopes while alpacas stared at us in dazed wonder:

Photo by Mike Wong

Finally, eventually, at last: we reached the pass. I’m not sure I’ve ever been more joyful. Or exhausted.

This is the view that greets you:

Not too shabby, eh? Hard to be fussed about your tired legs while looking out at that.

Here’s the group at the pass:

Photo courtasy of Mike Wong

My favorite photo from the trip is this one. Our friend and tourmate Alicia had no clue that she was in our photo. Neither did we until we looked at them later:

From there, it’s literally all downhill. Painfully so. But beautifully so. The climate could not have been more different. The hike up was foggy and rainy. Once we crossed the pass, the sun broke through the clouds and it felt like the trail was leading us through a different planet.

Here’s a stunning photo of a beautiful mossy tree grove we passed through on the way down (most of us traveled at least part of the way through it on our bottoms – it was extremely slippery):

Photo by Mike Wong

If it was possible to skip or prance on the rocky, steep downhill grade, I would have skipped with glee for the first few hours down. We stopped for lunch about 90 minutes down from the pass, and then continued on down to our campsite. That’s when we learned that when our guide said we were “30 minutes away” he really often meant “2 hours away.” We reached our campsite and I literally collapsed into the tent.

Spirits were so much better the second night. We were warm, dry, happy, and the hardest part of the trail was behind us. Here’s the group in the kitchen tent having dinner:

 

We awoke with fresh and tired spirits. (You may not think “fresh and tired spirits” are possible. They were that morning.) We were ready to finish the trek.

Breakfast was … cake! That the porters made. Without an oven. That tasted amazing. Miraculous!

Day 3 was downhill through the beautiful valley. Here’s what it looked like most of the way:

Photo by Mike Wong

We hiked for about 2 or 3 hours, and then ended with our last lunch while we waited for the bus to arrive.

Here’s a celebratory End Of The Hike selfie, in all our non-showered glory:

And here’s our celebratory toast:

In the weeks since hiking the Lares Trek I’ve found myself thinking, “I’ve hiked the Lares Trek, I can do that.” (“That” being whatever obstacle or challenge life may have presented. Even if it’s just doing the dishes or going to the gym.)

It was very challenging, but the feeling after conquering something that tested me was the great reward.

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If you want to learn more about the Lares Trek, gAdventures recently posted a beautiful photo series from the trail. If you’re interested in going to Machu Picchu and/or hiking the Lares Trek or Inca Trail, I highly recommend a trip with gAdventures.