Hiking Huayna Picchu & Uña Picchu Photo Gallery by kamchin at pbase.com

Hiking Huayna Picchu & Uña Picchu

We started our first day in Machu Picchu hiking Huayna Picchu and Uña Picchu.

Huayna Picchu or Wayna Picchu (Quechua: "Young Peak") is a mountain in Peru around which the Urubamba River bends. It rises over Machu Picchu, the so-called "lost city of the Incás," and divides it into sections. The Incas built a trail up the side of the Huayna Picchu and built temples and terraces on its top. The peak of Huayna Picchu is about 2720m above sea level, or about 360m higher than Machu Picchu.

Wayna Picchu is one of the more strenuous hikes. This site allows only 400 hikers a day. So, we had to get up early and be on the earliest bus at 5:30AM in order to get into the queue to hike Huayna Picchu.

As we queued in the line, the weather did not look promising at all. It was drizzling and misty everywhere. The hike could be dangerous when it rains. Up at the top, a slip could be fatal. Regardless, we took the hike and we were awarded with some of most magnificent views of Machu Picchu and the surrounding mountains. We stayed at the top for about 2 hours to wait for the mist to clear. The views were well worth the effort of hiking and waiting!

After Huayna Picchu, we hiked Uña Picchu or Huchuy Picchu which means Small Peak in Quechua. It was a rather easy hike compared to Huayna Picchu. But what was more exciting was to capture the view of the Machu Picchu ruins from the top of Uña Picchu. And again we were mesmerized.

After few hours of hiking and soaking up all the beautiful and different views of Machu Picchu from the mountaintops, we headed for our lunch and then continued our journey checking out the ruins at Machu Picchu up close and personal with the help from a private tour guide we hired on site.

Waynapicchu = Huayna Picchu = New Mountain	Mistical Huayna Picchu	The drizzle stopped. KC drapped her poncho on her backpack.	KC starting the ascend at around 7,875 ft.	Climbing ...
And climbing ...	And more climbing ...	Ruins near the peak	Climbing the steps	Beautiful ruins off the cliff
Through the tunnel to get to the peak	At the peak after 1000 ft of "vertical YDS class 3 scramble"	Cheers!	PH soaking up the clouds	On the edge. Patiently waiting for the mist to clear to get a view of Machu Picchu.
Machu Picchu appearing, after two hours!	Machu Picchu	Machu Picchu (MP)	MP: Roca ceremonial rock in between the two huts. The check point to Huayna Pichhu at the bottom, where we started the climb.	A group of hikers starting their hike up Huayna Pichhu
MP: Pyramid of Intiwatana (Astronomical Observatory)	MP: Intiwatana Pyramid	KC with Machu Picchu ruins	Machu Picchu	KC demonstrating perspective
Window	Terraces at Huayna Picchu	Man climbed to the top of the store house	Carefully going down the steps. The river is more than 1000 ft below.	KC & Machu Picchu
Huchuy Picchu = Uña Picchu	Junction to Uña Picchu	View of Huayna Picchu from Uña Picchu. The steps are steep. Not safe when wet. A fall could be brutal.	View of the Urban Sector from Uña Picchu	Birds-eye view of Machu Picchu from Uña Picchu
KC signing out at the Huayna Picchu check point	See us? #79 & 80 of the 400 people allowed in a day to climb Huayna Picchu.

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