Top Recommended Hiking Essentials

(As an aside, I almost cancelled the trip because of Buckles’ health scare but since he’s basically in the clear now, my mom and her boyfriend will be staying at my house with him while we’re gone. He’s spoiled by them, so he’s pumped.)

Neither Dan nor I are much for camping or hiking – I mean, don’t get me wrong, we do short, local hikes with Buckles that can probably barely be counted as hikes because they’re three or five miles long, so we don’t have any hiking equipment. I have a pair of hiking boots with literal holes in the toe because I’ve had them for nearly a decade. Dan just has sneakers. For this trip, the porters carry most of the big equipment (sleeping bags, etc), but we will each carry our own daypack which probably won’t be much – a water bottle, a phone (camera), a pair of pj’s, so as far as difficulty goes in that respect, it’s pretty low on that scale.

Apparently the Inca Trail, during this time of year, is around mid-sixties during the day and mid thirties at night, so we’ll need layers. It’s supposed to be the dry season, but apparently rain can happen. It’s only five days of my life, so I’m not trying to drop a ton of money on equipment I may not use again, so I’ve been shopping on Poshmark and The RealReal for secondhand outerwear and gear. We don’t need much gear, because we rented the big things like the tent, sleeping bags, sleeping pad, etc.

As far as our plan, we are flying into Cuzco a few days ahead of time to acclimate. Cuzco has a higher elevation as the top of the trail, so in a way, that’s good. I got bad altitude sickness in Colorado at 10k feet (although I was in a basin) so I’m a little nervous about that. We’ll be taking diamox starting a few days prior to the flight to help with altitude sickness, and we’ll bring dexamethasone just in case we start to feel awful on the hike itself. The hike is five days up and then we take a train down. We have just one more day in Cuzco after that and then we come home. Everything is super affordable, so we rented an AirBnB for the entire duration and will leave our suitcases there while we’re on the hike.

When I asked people for advice and recommendations, I had a number of people ask if I could share those recs, so below are a few of the items I’ve purchased, and I also compiled a hiking recommendation list from all the suggestions I got as well. If you’ve ever done the trek, I’d love to hear your recs on the experience in general in the comments below!

1. A lightweight vest like this, which was a recommended brand by so many. This one is a bit more affordable.

2. Light rain jacket.

3. Hiking pants – I can’t bring myself to drop a lot of money on pants I’ll never wear again. I’ve been advised not to wear leggings because bugs can bite through them, and I’ve been told not to wear sweatpants because they’re too bulky and most are a cotton blend, which you don’t want because cotton, when wet, can be a breeding ground for bacteria. I bought these for just $35, and ordered a few pairs off Athleta like these and these that I’ll try on and return if I don’t like the fit.

4. For hiking boots, I got a pair of Danner Mountain Pass boots that I know I’ll probably wear for the rest of my life. Dan got a pair of Salomon’s.

5. Since I do an annual parasite cleanse, parasites are always on my radar and I like taking precautions when I can, so I ordered this water bottle I’ve been using daily.

6. And because no one wants to be around hangry Candace, these nut butter pouches are a staple anytime I travel.

If you’re curious as to the other hiking recommendations people made, check out my storefront.