Inca Trail to Machu Picchu Inca Trail to Machu Picchu The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu (also known as "Camino Inca" or "Camino Inka") is a hiking trail in Peru that terminates at Machu Picchu. It consists of three overlapping trails: "Mollepata", "Classic", and "One Day". "Mollepata" is the longest of the three routes with the highest mountain pass and intersects with the Classic route before crossing Warmiwañusqa ("dead woman"). Located in the Andes mountain range, the trail passes through several types of Andean environments including cloud forest and alpine tundra. Settlements, tunnels, and many Incan ruins are located along the trail before ending the
Machu Picchu Spanish never found Machu Picchu and so did not plunder or destroy it, as they did many other sites. The conquistadors had notes of a place called "Piccho", although no record of a Spanish visit exists. The types of sacred rocks defaced by the conquistadors in other locations are untouched at Machu Picchu. Over the centuries, the surrounding jungle overgrew the site, and few outside the immediate area knew of its existence. The site may have been discovered and plundered in 1867 by a German businessman, Augusto Berns. Some evidence indicates that German engineer J. M. von Hassel arrived earlier.