Salkantay Trek - Day 2

After the crazy storm the night before, we were a little weary peaking out the tent in the morning to see what kind of weather would await us for the climb over the 15,000ft pass. Having to get up to go to the bathroom I stepped out first and when I saw the blue sky and mountains clearly, I woke Greta up immediately and we started packing camp and making breakfast.

We were on the trail by 6:45 and conditions were perfect. This was not expected because it´s the rainy season in Peru right now and we´d been told not to attempt the trail because of the weather we would run into. After about 20 minutes we´d stripped to shorts and t-shirts to stay comfortable. As we climbed up the valley to the mountain pass we could see the clouds following us up the valley, and about half way to the pass the clouds had socked in and we were getting sprinkled on. Not far from the top of the pass we ran into a group of three people (two hikers and a guide) and after our hellos one of the hikers asks if we are from Eugene, OR. A little confused, he points to my shirt (Eugene marathon shirt) and I laugh and say no, we just went down for the run but are from Gresham. Turns out the guy was from Portland and went to college in Eugene, crazy how small a world it is.

With rain gear and pack covers we easily made the 15,400 foot pass which is the highest either of us has ever been before (outside of an airplain... ) and very excited to be at that elevation. After a break at the top of the pass to take it all in. We started down, and maybe 1000 feet from the top we ran into a group of 4 hikers, two from Austraila and two from Juneau Alaska (next thing you know I´m going to meet someone from Boring!).

We decended to the first set of camps and as we were getting closer Greta spotted our first herd of Alpacas so of coure we had to go over and say hello and get pictures. After saying goodbuy to the alpacas the weather was just starting to rain again, we happened to be next to a shelter with a grass roof and no walls but figured it was an ideal spot to stop for lunch. Since it was dry in the shelter we hung our ground cloth and rain fly out to dry. While we were in the shelter the group of 4 showed up and joined us to take their lunch as well and get out of the rain.

After giving up on the weather improving we bundled up and started off down the trail. About 30 minutes down the trail we realized that we had forgotten to pack our ground cloth and that it was still hanging in the shelter. Although it had only been a half hours time, the trail we had been going down was steep and we were moving fast, so we had probably lost close to a thousand feet of elevation and the thought of hiking up that again in the rain was enough to make us consider leaving the ground cloth. Initially we decided it wasn´t worth it, but another couple hundred feet down the trail I was thinking about my sleeping bag getting wet for the rest of the 28 days of our trip and we agreed that Greta could hang onto both back packs and waddle down the trail while I went back to get the ground cloth. Hating to loose time for a silly mistake, my initial thought was that I would simply run up and get it... well at around 13,000 feet that lasted about 50 yards going up the steep trail and I had to walk the rest. Ariving back at the shelter I was happy to see the ground cloth still there, and now gravity was on my side. Running down the trail was actually quite exciting, we´d seen some of the locals running past us earlier with packs, which we thought was crazy, but w/o the pack, it was fun for sure.

After catching up with Greta we continued down the trail passing some incredible looking camping areas that looked about like you would picture paradise. When we were getting to where we wanted to stay the night we found our first open store and purchased two chocolate bars to celebrate making it over the pass. After making a couple more wrong turns, (my sence of direction has never been so bad, I´d like to think the poor map was mostely to blame :-). After getting lost and finding our way a couple times we found both the trail we needed to continue on the following day and a perfect local family to stay with who let us camp in their yard (I´ve never seen such perfect lawns by the way, and the only thing that keeps the grass short is the farm animals) and use one of their huts to hang our wet clothes and cook in.

While cooking dinner we were checked on by the pigs, chickens, and one of the young children that lived there, all making for another great day.