In today's episode I'm going to tell you why you can't hike the Inca Trail on your own And I'll also tell you what other alternatives exist if you still want to tackle the region solo Now first off is the Inca Trail. You can't hike the Inca Trail on your own It just wouldn't be reasonable. There's too much at stake There's a lot of historical significance and we don't need somebody running out there with a rocker Stone and carving something of their own personal motivation into the wall We want to keep everything safe and this is done by having legitimate guides and travel agencies Regulated and being the only ones that are allowed on the trail itself Second reason is to stimulate economy. We want to definitely make sure that there are people in the area that get paid or Or experience some of the benefits of external tourism and That's done by employing locals and such to get them to be porters and to allow them to take your stuff around the area It's a reasonable thing to do as well and then the last as well is cleneness You certainly don't want people running out there and getting drunk on the trail or You know leaving toward the paper all over the place or you know Maybe there'd be other things like vandalism or violence other things that would just otherwise happen if it wasn't Unregulated area that you can still buy beer on the trail and these are done at some of the little stations along the way But other than that people are throwing bonfire parties Anyway, you'll always need a tour guide if you want to travel the Inca Trail and alternative to the Inca Trail It would be the Salkin Tide Trail the Salkin Tide Trail has a few benefits the other one or one of most the It's not the Inca Trail and it still ends up at Machu Picchu now the Salkin Tide Trail also has a benefit at the beginning You'll be able to hike past Lake Umentai Umentai is in the base of Salkin Tide Mountain the mountains were revered by the Incan people and Umentai itself is a wonderful gorgeous lake that we had the fortune to go visit or visit on our own Without actually hiking the Salkin Tide Trail Salkin Tide Trail still has a good amount of elevation climb and you're still hiking through the Andes It's got wonderful views Like I said, it's the only other one that's actually going to take you to Machu Picchu last on the list right now is the Choco Kiro Trail The Choco Kiro Trail takes about six days in total and it's very very isolated trail now That being said some of the isolation gives it some beauty It has a lot of wonderful views as you take the trip You see it's a two-day actually and then about four days on the trail itself once you leave Choco Kiro But beyond that if you want to see a couple of other videos of some people doing it We haven't done it ourselves, but I know Craig Adams has done it and he had a wonderful little video and we'll definitely put it up in the description Two other trails and you'll have the opportunity to hike if you want to see the Andes will be the Vokumbamba Trail and the Lairist Trail Now again the only two trails that actually make it to Machu Picchu are the Incan Trail and the Salkin Tide Trail other than that we've made some Choco Kiro and then like we said Vokumbamba and Lairist Trail These trails themselves also have their own ups and downs They have other sites they're going to see and you're going to be captivated no matter where you go But you still have to look out for accessibility and the the downsides to the Incan Trail are that it's just so Populated this touristy area and the trail is almost heavily traveled as a result of that I got the plan very far in advance if you want to book these as we start getting the Salkin Tide You'll still have a reasonable number of people on Salkin Tide and Choco Kiro Vokumbamba Lairist are going to be less popular Did Elias still see the area? Perhaps if you get there and you didn't book ahead or you didn't have the opportunity There's still plenty to see in the area. So do go look up these trails And I'm sure you'll find something wonderful on them. We haven't done them ourselves yet But we're going to improve once also so maybe next time So that ends our short little episode on why you can't hike the Incan Trail on your own What other alternatives you might have in the event that you can't get to the Incan Trail But you happen to be in Peru and If you'd like this video leave some comments below give us a thumbs up and we'll see you on your next adventure