Between Urubamba River and Sacred Valley is located the Inca Trail; Machu Picchu has been declared as a classic trek of world. The height of Machu Picchu is 13,000 ft from the river which passes beneath this city. City is containing many ruins of Inca; it is also called the silent city of stone. Hiking of the Inca Trail gives an exhilarating experience and thrilling favour to tourists. This hiking is far more than a great hike because these small portions of mountain ranges are hiding an incredible network of stone buildings.
Inca Empire was put together against the challenges of mountain ranges, Andean river and bleak deserts. Days when expansion of Inca Empire was at its peak, The Four Corners of empire had been extended up to the areas of today’s Southern Columbia and central Chile. If you imagine the sheer size of Inca Empire you will be amazed to know that the maximum distance between two corners of Inca Empire was around 5500km. It is not a small distance as it is around 3400 miles in length.
Communication And Transport System Of Inca Empire
Emperor of Machu Picchu was called Inca. As he had to rule a very wide area of land; he had established an extensive system of communication. This system was based upon a number of tunnels and bridges. These tunnels and bridges were built across Inca Empire in order to facilitate the transport, cargo, law implementation and defense like necessities of Empire. The network of tunnels and bridges was so perfect that people could easily travel across the vast Empire even in days of wet season. Those people who have a taste of tropical climate, they can understand the effectiveness of this communication and transport system because travel on foot in tropical lands is extremely difficult in wet season. Travel in dry season is relatively much easy because dry season does not brings the slippery mud in your path; so you can move freely.
Inca emperors built up their transport infrastructure from defense’s point of view. As they had to rule a vast area, they had to keep big armies. If you are keeping an army then it is of no use to you if you cannot deploy it quickly in case of an immediate threat. So the Inca rulers also facilitated their defense needs by building up an excellent transport structure. Their built system of transport is still working in some areas after hundreds of years.
Advantages What Inca Emperors Got From Their Built Communication And Transport System
Their built communication and transport system enabled them to quickly move their army to any area of empire in case of a threat. Therefore, they got an opportunity to conquer new areas to expand their empire. Their built roads had enough width that two soldiers could easily move side by side in one direction at once. Further, they appointed many runners at short distances along these roads. These runners moved very fast for exchange of messages between different parts of Empire. Special check posts were also built for these runners. Check posts built for runners were nothing less than rest houses. Many of them are still working today in 21st century. The exchange of information between different parts of Empire happened at the speed of runners. Therefore Inca Empire’s cities were very close to each other than cities of other empires of their time.
This system for exchange of information was very fast and reliable. In fact, it was equally effective to the postal services of present days. People of Inca regions are still maintaining these roads due to their usefulness. The highway network of old Inca Empire is considered as a great engineering piece of pre-industrialized world. Archaeologists consider it as a big treasure. Government has started big campaigns for protection of the natural beauty of this area. Tourists are always advised to take care of natural beauty; they should not throw garbage while passing through different parts of this region.
Where To Start Hiking Of Machu Picchu?
Old people considered Machu Picchu as a sacred city. Hikers can start their Machu Picchu hiking from Chilca village. This village is located at a distance of 88 km from Machu Picchu. A dirt road connects Chilca village to Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is close to Machu Picchu. Hikers can also start Machu Picchu hiking by taking a train to Urubamba. This city is very close to Machu Picchu; hikers will only have to cross a road of 2200 meters on foot to enter Machu Picchu. Hikers will pay a cost of US$50 before entering this valley. When they will cross the bridge, they will see Llactapata ruins on their left side. If they can afford to walk up to a distance of 1km on their left side, they will be able to visit Q’ente ruins. This is a very famous area of Machu Picchu.
Start Hiking From Chilca Village Because You Will Get Excellent Campsites In This Path
But Hikers are largely advised to start their hiking from Chilca village because hiking from the side of Chilca gives you some excellent views of this region. Path from Chilca village goes on the left side of Urubamba stuff. The beautiful scenes of farmlands besides river give pleasure of life to your eyes. Where you will be watching beautiful farmlands across the bank of river, you will see beautiful snow-capped mountains above your head. It is a snow-capped range of mountains and many Inca ruins are spread in this region. The area which offers the best sceneries to hikers is located between Chilca and Llactapata.
If you are found of camping then you will find many beautiful camping sights in the ruins located near Chilca. Llactapata is also important due to its archaeological signs. In fact, Llactapata is the most major archaeological site in all North American countries. You will realize this fact just with in the first few hours of hiking. You will explore the agricultural terraces and ruined houses of Inca Empire in this area. However, none of the Chilca and Llactapata ruins are comparable to Machu Picchu.
Most Ruins Of Inca Empire Are Located Near Streams And Rivers
Rio Cusichacha and Rio Llullucha are two streams flowing in the areas around Llactapata and Urubamba. These two streams collide in the area near village Huayllabamba. People of Huayllabamba are inhabitants of the Inca Trail. After crossing this village, hikers get three excellent campsites at one side of Rio Llullucha. Two of the camping sides have been named as ‘Three White Stones’ and ‘Llulluchapampa’. The third camping sight has not been given a name up to now.
Campsite of ‘Three White Stones’ is at a walk distance of half an hour from Huayllabamba village. The next campsite in this area is Llulluchapampa. It is located at a significant height from ‘Three White Stones’. Its weather is clod due to its significant height. But its best advantage is that it has excellent toilet places for hikers. The third campsite comes at 20 hours hiking up the trail. If you are planning your hiking tour from this side then you can use any of the three campsites for your rest. All these campsites will offer excellent resting places to you.
