Machu Picchu (Page 2)

Some Day 1 pictures:













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Day 1 - Bridge at Start of Inca Trail.JPG (421KB - 28 downloads)
Day 1 - View of Mt Veronica.JPG (439KB - 28 downloads)
Day 2 - Packing up.JPG (350KB - 20 downloads)
Day 1 - Patallacta Ruins.JPG (493KB - 19 downloads)
Day 1 - Hiking up towards camp.JPG (746KB - 30 downloads)

Some Day 2 pictures. The day starts with the climb of Dead Woman's Pass - the highest point of the trail. You then go down the back side of the pass for lunch, climb another pass in the afternoon, and finally drop down the back of the 2nd pass to camp. I tried to trace the trail with a blue line where I saw it in these pictures to give you an idea of the route. DWP = Dead Woman's Pass, Circled L = lunch spot, R = location of the ruins in these pics.















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Hiking up to Dead Womans Pass.JPG (699KB - 27 downloads)
Day 2 - Looking back at Dead Womans Pass (1).JPG (893KB - 27 downloads)
Day 2 - Runkuracay Ruins.JPG (526KB - 27 downloads)
Day 2 - View of Dead Womans Pass from Runkuracay (1).JPG (759KB - 27 downloads)
Day 2 - View of valley on backside of Dead Womans Pass (2).JPG (638KB - 34 downloads)
Day 2 - At top of Dead Womans Pass - we hiked up from the bottom of this valley.JPG (427KB - 27 downloads)

Wow, those are great. Looks like an epic adventure/hike. What was your impression of the ruins along the way? Were there any that compare to MP or were they all pretty much smaller sites? Was there much rebuilding done on these sites or did you get the impression they were left as found; save for some brush clearing? I know MP has been extensively restored and there were even guys restoring a wall when we were there. As impressive as these structures are, i'd really like to see one that hasn't been rebuilt.

Your pictures are awesome, Boilermaker..really some of the best I've seen. I had pretty much the same itinerary back in '04 but I have long since forgotten the names of the ruins we visited beside MP. We did climb a ladder setup just like the one you have pictured but I don't remember it being quite that long. Our group was only three and there were at least half a dozen porters carrying, by their standards, relatively light loads. My pack was around 40lbs(so they told me), and getting it to the top of DWP seemed like a nice accomplishment until I saw other porters from other groups RUNNING up to the top. Pretty humbling for a newbie triathlete...

Curiosity got the best of me and I had to find out why it's called Dead Woman pass! If you look where he's labeled DWP on the pictures, those are her feet. Follow the "body" up to the right and you can see the profile and her head further up the mountain. Looks more like a woman resting, but I guess woman resting pass doesn't get your attention like dead woman pass does. Back to google to uncover the mystery of Woman Hollering Creek just east of San Antonio . . .

mdg, all the ruins along the trail are much smaller than MP (or Olly, Pisac, Sacsayhuaman). Winay Wayna & Sayacmarca were the 2 largest sites. WW is built into a steep hillside, has a large terrace system, and a nice view down to the Ur. River which make it pretty spectacular. Google will probably give you better pics than mine since we arrived at both of those sites just before dusk, but these might give you an idea of how the preservation efforts differ from those at MP.
















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Day 3 - Winay Wayna II.JPG (603KB - 29 downloads)
IMG_0865-001.JPG (294KB - 18 downloads)
IMG_0908-001.JPG (407KB - 33 downloads)
Day 3 - Phuyupatamarca.JPG (472KB - 30 downloads)

Great pics. Thanks for sharing. We were in Pisac in '05. Good memories.