Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Tag: hiking

Preliminary Planning: Peru

I’m in the very early planning stages of a potential trip to Peru, and I thought it might help me to hash it out on ~~paper~~ screen. Plus if anyone has any experience with hiking one of the trails to Machu Picchu, I’d love your input!

The trek appeals to me for a few reasons. I’ve never really done an adventure like this where the journey is just as much a part of the experience as the destination. I have some hiking experience, but only on short trails 4-5 miles at most and not for several days in a row. So this would be something new, and I love trying new things. A hike of this length (32 miles) at a high altitude with a hefty vertical climb would be a bit of challenge for me, and I do like to push myself. I’ve been hiking in the Rocky Mountains and the Swiss Alps and we’ve been snowboarding and skiing in the Rockies the past several years, so I’m aware of the potential for altitude sickness. I don’t usually have a problem with altitude changes, but I do notice a slight difference in how it feels to breathe when I’m really exerting myself. I’m willing to give it a try though. (The hiking, not the sickness.) Plus, Chris and I have never been to Peru or South America, and we’re always excited to see new places! The thought of seeing an area so rich with ancient history gives me goosebumps.

hiking in Virginia, El Yunque Rainforest (PR), and Alaska

I have no very little doubt in my ability to meet the physical demands of this hike with some training before we go. Truth be told, I’d like to do this trip while I still have the most spring in my step (although I’ve read accounts of people who have done the trek in their 70s). What I do doubt though, is my ability to do the hike after attempting to sleep outdoors on the ground. I am a super light sleeper and have zero camping experience. To add to that, I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep knowing my camera, passport, and other belongings are unsecured. Ideally I’d like to be able to appreciate the journey and my surroundings, and generally for me to enjoy anything I require sleep and time to reset. In that regard, I guess I’m a little high-maintenance, but I don’t think it’s my fault! I would love to be a heavy sleeper, trust me. So there’s that, and I’m also a little concerned about dealing with my dietary restrictions and sensitive stomach, but I think I have found a solution that will address both of these concerns.

Mountain Lodges of Peru (MLP) offers a guided Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu. Compared to the Inca Trail, the Salkantay option is apparently the more challenging option in that it is a few miles longer at a higher altitude over rougher terrain, but the trek offered through MLP includes lodging along the route in accommodations with real beds, hot tubs (!), and showers. That sounds more like my speed! I’d have a better chance at getting some much needed rest, and I think my dining options would open up a little by staying at a lodge each night. I’ve read about the, ahem, “facilities” situation along the trail, so combine that with the difficulty of the 32-mile hike itself and that will probably be enough roughing it for me. The Eleanor Roosevelt quote is, “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” So, that’s one singular thing. It’s not, “Do several things all at once that you think you cannot do.” I promise to try camping another time – it’s on my list.

photos courtesy of mountainlodgesofperu.com

From what I’ve researched, the Salkantay Trek offers incredibly beautiful scenery and perhaps a more peaceful experience due to fewer people choosing this route. I keep reading that the Inca Trail can feel slightly crowded at times. I also like the idea of only seeing one ruins site at the end of the trek – I’ve read reports from Inca Trail hikers that there are several ruins along the way potentially making Machu Picchu feel slightly anticlimactic, though I’m sure that’s not the experience for everyone. I’d probably be weirdly over-thrilled at seeing every single thing as I so often am.

I think I’d love to hike either trail, but the lodging option very (very very) strongly appeals to me, so Salkantay with MLP might be our best bet. I’m slightly bummed at the thought of not doing the classic Inca Trail, but from my research so far it doesn’t look like there’s an option for lodging along the way. Chris is completely resilient and would do great with camping each night, but he always votes for whatever will make me happy. (Isn’t he awesome? And smart – I’m sure he doesn’t want to do a strenuous hike all day with me after I’ve had no sleep the night before.) I realize I’d lose a bit of travel cred for not doing the camping thing, but I don’t travel for bragging rights. I simply want the experience of the hike, the scenery along the way, and of seeing the ruins. And yes, obviously it’s pricier to stay in lodges instead of tents, but this would be our big trip for that year and we’d save up our pennies accordingly.

So what do you think? Am I on the right track with my planning? Does anyone have any experience with either trail, or especially with MLP? Please feel free to comment or send me an email with your advice!

July 21, 2014
Switzerland 2004

Yes, that title is correct! These images are from a trip to Switzerland nearly ten years ago. I’m only just now posting them because they were all taken on 35mm film, and I just never got around to scanning the images. (And as a side note, the scans are from the 4×6 prints, so the quality might not be the best.) But since this blog is somewhat of a photo diary for me, I’d be remiss to leave out some of my favorite trips. My side-trip to Italy and a separate adventure to England are next up to get scanned.

Chris and I went to Lugano, Switzerland back when he used to travel a lot for work. He was scheduled to work at a conference for the week, so I mostly toured the country (and Italy!) on my own. We flew into Zurich and took an incredibly beautiful train ride into the southern/Italian part of Switzerland. We stayed at the super cute Hotel Lugano Dante, which was central to a lot of restaurants and shops. I spent a lot of time wandering the area by foot and sometimes by bus once I figured out the system. I knew how to ask for directions in Italian well enough that the answer was returned to me in Italian, which I couldn’t make heads or tails from, but yay that my Italian was passable!

When Chris was able to take some time off, we took a train ride into Luzern so that we could see the spectacular views from Mt. Pilatus and also to see the Chapel Bridge in town. We rode a funicular all the way to the top of the mountain only to find out that it was completely foggy that day with zero visibility! But after riding a cable car back down, we did get to see the bridge. And it was really fun to visit the German-speaking part of the country. Neither of us speak a word of German, but we enjoyed trying.

One of the highlights of my visit was an overnight trip to a tiny Swiss Alps town called Gimmelwald. Another conference significant other, Tammi, and I took a train to Interlaken and then a bus to a really amazing site called Trümmelbach Falls. It’s a series of waterfalls inside of a mountain that you get to by tunnels and paths along the falls. I’ll never forget how loud and beautiful they were! If you get the chance to go, it’s an amazing site to see and hear.

After seeing the falls, we made our way to Gimmelwald, which is only accessible by cable car. The population of the most adorable town in the world is just over a hundred people! We stayed at Mountain Hostel, my only hostel experience to-date, and it was absolutely amazing. Our sleeping arrangements were dorm-room style and fairly comfy, but I didn’t get even a minute of sleep. Instead, I stayed up all night and well into the morning talking with other travelers, laughing, trading stories and photos, and playing silly card games.

And then the next morning, before anyone else was awake, I grabbed my camera and set off to go hiking. I got to see the sunrise over the Alps, found some authentic Swiss cows, and ate a picnic breakfast in probably the most peaceful, majestic setting I’ll ever experience. Looking back on it, it’s one of my most favorite travel memories, but I also get a little spooked at thinking how dumb it probably was to go wandering around by myself in the mountains without telling anyone. Oops! Obviously it worked out, but I wouldn’t do that now. 🙂

Sigh! I can’t wait to go back someday. Oh, did you notice there aren’t any photos of Chris or me on this trip? Sadly, I think we only took one or two of each other and NONE together! There’s one horrible photo of me in the dorm room at Mountain Hostel after a night of no sleep, so please forgive me for not posting that one. And I can’t find the other one of me from the trip. It’s funny how many “selfies” we take now that we have digital cameras/phones, but for some reason we just didn’t do that as much on the film cameras. So for that reason, I guess we’ll just need to go back!

Up next (after I get the images scanned), my solo-trip across the Switzerland/Italy border to see Milan.

Update: I did find another picture of me! Here I am standing in front of a fountain in Lugano:

January 18, 2014
Hiking to La Mina Falls in El Yunque

Our hike in El Yunque National Forest was one of my favorite days in Puerto Rico. Chris and I drove our little Fiesta to the park one morning with a plan to hike to the La Mina waterfall. When we arrived at the visitor center the skies opened up, so we quickly ducked inside to purchase ponchos for our visit. We wandered around some of the waterfalls that are right off of the main road, and also stopped to see the Yokahu Tower. Luckily it stopped raining not too long after we arrived.

What we didn’t realize was that once we started hiking, it would be so humid that we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from rain or no rain, and the plastic ponchos certainly weren’t breathable so we stuffed them into our pack and went on our merry way down the La Mina path. More than the ponchos, we were thankful to have good sturdy shoes because the trail is tricky in a few places. There are a lot of stairs and plenty of spots on the trail where the narrow path gets slippery, so best to leave your flip-flops for the beach and tackle this trail in trainers or other grippy shoes.

At the very bottom of the trail (less than a mile one-way), La Mina Falls provides a refreshing oasis after a sweaty hike. Okay spoiler alert, the water was actually pretty cold! But it felt good on a hot day. It took us about 30 minutes to get down the trail to the waterfall – the elevation change is pretty steep so it’s not a quick mile.

And again, the rocks here are slippery, so you’d do well to wear a pair of water shoes with some traction if you plan to climb into the water. We wore our swimsuits so that we could get right in, and then we pretty much just drip-dried on the hike back up. Don’t forget to take photos from the bridge!

September 15, 2013
Puerto Rico 2013

Happy almost-end-of-summer! (It’s not officially fall until September 22nd, right?) Chris and I just returned from a sort of unplanned trip to Puerto Rico last week. I say “sort of unplanned” because I am an obsessive travel planner and I usually have trips booked or at least outlined a year or so in advance. We originally thought we’d drive to Toronto for the long Labor Day weekend, but we decided a few weeks ago that we could use a longer vacation. Being close and on a direct flight path from Dulles International Airport, Puerto Rico fit the bill. Plus, we found an amazing deal on flights + hotel through Travelocity. So off we went!

We knew that we might run into some bad weather since it’s prime hurricane season, but we figured that staying at a huge resort hotel in the city would provide us with enough to do on a rainy day if needed. It turns out that a few of our booked activities did get cancelled due to a tropical wave that turned into a tropical storm, but we did have good weather most of the time and we found plenty of things to do.

The second full day, we took our little green rental Fiesta and drove to El Yunque rainforest for some hiking. The waterfalls were amazing. We hiked the trail to Cascada La Mina, and even got in the water beneath the falls. It was cold! And a little scary – I couldn’t see what I was stepping on.

That evening we headed into Old San Juan and took a ferry across the water to the Casa Bacardi rum factory. The tour was brief and we only saw a replica of the distillery process, but there were free drinks at the end!

Because our sail/snorkel trip was cancelled, we were able to spend a little more time exploring Old San Juan. What a cute city! The buildings are so colorful with ornate details. I took several new images for my collection of door photos.

We toured the two castles in the city, Castillo de San Cristóbal and Castillo San Felipe del Morro, and enjoyed learning about the history of each. We may also have played House Hunters, saying things like, “This is a great space! It has good light, and plenty of room for a king size bed. Oh, here’s where we could put our office…”

The last full day of our trip, we drove to Seven Seas Beach and spent the afternoon snorkeling right off the shore. It was definitely my speed – I like when I can just pop out of the water if when something freaks me out. Thankfully all of the fish were the friendly kind, although I did see my first spiny black sea urchin! I forgot to photograph or video it, you know, on account of being scared of it. I’m getting a little more brave each time I go snorkeling though, I promise. I’m not committing to it, but I may even try scuba diving soon.

Puerto Rico 2013 from Susan Marks on Vimeo.

September 10, 2013
Hiking Great Falls

In continuing to complete all of the hikes in our little trail guide, Chris and I checked off Great Falls yesterday. We had been there before, but only to look at the falls from the overlooks. Yesterday we did the whole length of the River Trail, which was just a bit over three miles. A few images from the point-and-shoot:

Obligatory photo in front of the falls. Hey, everyone else was doing it!

And an obligatory picture in the “hole” created during the Ice Age.

The first half of the trail didn’t feel like the kind of hiking I’ve grown to love. The trails are wide, well-worn, and easy (with lots of man-made elements like staircases), and there were tons of people everywhere. I couldn’t believe how many people were at the park when it was about 35 degrees with a wind chill of well below that! But once we reached the part of the trail that gains quite a bit of elevation over trickier terrain, the crowd completely thinned out. We only saw two other hikers doing that part of the trail. And I can see why – I thought that part of the River Trail was actually a little scary. There are plenty of spots where the trail climbs over huge boulders only one foot away from the cliff’s edge. My nerves are also a product of how clumsy I am. If I can fall down a flight of stairs with railing (and trust me, I can), surely I could take the 70 ft. plunge into the Potomac if I lost my footing. And speaking of losing my footing, I’ll end this post with a photo from Chris’s favorite part of the day where we had to cross the part of the path that was flooded.

He went first on the ice around the left egde, and it was all creaky sounding in one spot. I followed shortly after, and that creaky spot cracked. I managed to make it out before I got wet though! Okay, this is after I was squealing, yelling and slipping all over, and Chris had to pull me along. I can’t believe I didn’t fall all over the ice. He said he wished he had a video of me crossing the ice. I hate to disappoint you, blog readers, but there’s no video of it.

January 25, 2009