Inka Trail — Along the Trail

This page will show you what the Trail was like from Choquesuysuy until Wiñaywayna, with scenic views and flowers all along the way. It was a very steep climb, but the views as we got higher and higher made it quite worthwhile. We also were lucky that it wasn't sunny. It was hot enough as it was, working that strenuously! In the middle picture below, you can see that we've made some progress climbing above the valley floor.

Joan on the Trail (and Kathy resting below)

Here are some more views along the early part of the climb to Wiñaywayna.

We continued to make progress, getting further away from the river valley. And also closer to the clouds!

These are two of the last pictures Henry took before we reached Wiñaywayna, the highest point, in elevation, on our hike.

As you can tell from the preceding pictures, the mountains in this area are covered with lush forests. We saw lots of beautiful and interesting plants on our climb.

Our guide, Hernán, told us the name of the beautiful purple flower in the middle below, but for the life of me I can't remember it. On the left, however, I do remember from our rainforest lessons, that this plant is an epiphyte, which grows up in a tree instead of on the ground.

The flower in the middle below was a bit of familiarity in the strange scenery of the Andes—a lantana!

Henry was lucky to be walking with Hernán, who pointed it out to us, when we passed this tiny, lovely, brown orchid, growing on what looks like a hostia-type leaf. I wish we'd had something in the photo for scale, but I don't think the little bloom could have been more than an inch long. Some of the unusual plant life was easier to spot, though, like the fuzzy stuff on this tree.

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