Hiking to Machu Picchu for a Sunrise I'll Never Forget

Four days on the Salkantay Trek, one 4 a.m. climb up the stone steps of Huayna Picchu, and the cloud forest opening below like a curtain.

Nothing prepares you for the first time the mist lifts off Machu Picchu. Not photos, not documentaries, not even the friends who tell you it will ruin every other ruin for you. It will. They were right.

I did the Salkantay Trek instead of the Inca Trail — cheaper, wilder, and you cross a 4,600-meter pass under a glacier that groans all night. On day four you drop into hot jungle and take a train the last hour to Aguas Calientes, then wake up at 3:30 to be first in line for the bus.

Buy the extra ticket for Huayna Picchu. It's a knee-shaking climb but the view back down onto the citadel, with a river of cloud pouring through the gap, is the single best hour of any trip I've taken.