Day 2 — Dead Woman’s Pass
The hardest day on the trail — and it earns every warning.
At a glance · 8.5 mi · +3,900 ft · camp Pacaymayo · moving ~9h30 · hardest day
This is the day everyone warns you about, and they’re right to.
Still climbing, 13,830 feet on the compass near the top of the pass.
The climb to Warmiwañusca, better known as Dead Woman’s Pass, gains close to 3,000 feet in just over three miles. Somewhere past Llulluchapampa the trail turns into a staircase that keeps going up long after you’ve stopped believing it will. Looking up at the switchbacks cut into the mountainside, disappearing into cloud, was genuinely intimidating. You can see other hikers ahead as tiny dots on a ribbon of stone, and that ribbon is where you’re headed.
The Warmiwañusca sign, 13,828 feet, the highest point on the trail.
My heart rate told the story better than I could. On the ascent it averaged 137 beats a minute, my highest of the whole trip. I found myself doing what I’d started figuring out the day before: matching my breath to my steps, counting them out, treating the climb as a rhythm instead of an obstacle. It didn’t make the pass any shorter. It made it bearable.
At 13,828 feet, Warmiwañusca is the highest point on the traditional Inca Trail. In Inca times it was considered sacred ground, a place for offerings to the mountain gods, the Apus. Standing there in the wind and thin air, that made sense.
The descent was its own kind of hard. The stone steps down the other side are enormous, built for a longer stride than mine, and after a full morning of climbing my legs didn’t want to cooperate. Rain moved in by afternoon. We made camp at Pacaymayo in a light downpour, orange and red tents going up on wet ground. It felt earned in a way a dry camp wouldn’t have.
The staircase down the other side, dropping into the mist.
Rain moved in by afternoon — tents going up at Pacaymayo.
Trail Notes
Route: Wayllabamba, climbing through Llulluchapampa to Warmiwañusca (Dead Woman’s Pass, 13,828 ft), then a long descent to Pacaymayo.
Camp: Pacaymayo, reached via a steep descent on the far side of the pass.
Crew: Same TReXperience group — 16 trekkers, 23 porters, 2 guides — fully supported for the toughest day of the trek.
Food: Crew-cooked meals with a fish or vegetarian option at every meal, same as the rest of the trek.
Gear that mattered: Trekking poles, more than any other day — the knees take a beating on the descent.
Trail stats: 8.5 mi · +3,900 ft gain · ~9.5 hrs moving · avg heart rate 137 bpm on the ascent, the highest of the whole trip.
