The Story of the Hike. Part 2. In Part 1, we had reached the mango tree and taken a long rest before starting the hardest part of the hike up the steep trail. While we were at the mango tree, I was feeling a little sleepy. But no rest for the weary; after our break it was time to get going. We headed onto the trail, and soon enough we started climbing. The trail was good. There were sections with lots of little lava rocks. We were in the shade for most of the time. But the climb was relentless! Again I found myself at the back of the group. Our sweep guide tried talking to me about where I was from and my travel plans. I could barely summon 2 or 3 words to answer her questions in very short phrases between breaths. After a long while we took a break. And we found out that we were about halfway up the hard part. Pretty soon we were back to climbing again. I could not believe how much I was sweating. I am used to hiking in California where the air is dry and if you are high enough, cool too. This was hot and humid. Although in the shade it wasnt too bad. And we noticed that the sun had been obscured by some clouds as well so that was also helping. Finally we reached a clearing for another break. By the time I got there with the sweep, the first guide was already explaining something about a tree, and had the group walk over to check out another tree close by. I just dropped my pack and sat down--no energy to go check out the nature! Then the guide said that we all needed to get up, gather sticks and wood because we would carry it from the clearing to the campsite! Everyone got to work. I watched them from where I was sitting on the ground. Finally, I found the strength to get up and go looking for wood. I was able to gather a small pile of some pitiful looking starter kindling sticks. That would be my contribution to the campfire. Also around this time, we noticed that the cloud cover was even thicker and darker and we started to feel a few rain drops here and there. Then we started hiking again. Pretty soon, we left the cover of the shade and were out in the open. Our guide said we were close. But, we had to tackle some more switchbacks again. I just followed my strategy of looking down at the ground and putting one foot in front of the other. I always tell Anderson Gobbi that you can hike any distance and any altitude as long as you give yourself enough time and go slow enough. So there I was, going slow-and-steady with my heavy pack and now nearly-empty 3-liter water bottle. Finally we reached a point where we could all look straight over at the volcano Telica. It was cloudy all around us, but there were white clouds just above the volcano, and our guides confirmed that this was steam coming out of the volcano itself. We were going to try to make it to the edge of that crater after setting up camp. We walked a little further and descended into a clearing. Wow, this was an interesting little mini valley with short grass, a couple of covered picnic tables, and a fire ring for a fire. Quite nice. But, watch out for the cow poop. Apparently our campground was shared with some local cows. (I forgot to mention that one common characteristic of the trail all the way up and back was poop on the trail. I dont know how to distinguish horse poop from cow poop, but we walked around plenty of it. Back at the mango tree, there was a local man there who had a few cows with him. At some point the cows and horses sharing the trail with us came up in conversation, and our guide said that we could have arranged for a mule to carry our pack for $10 more. What? I am just now finding this out at the mango tree? Yeah, but then what would be the fun and accomplishment of the hike if a mule was carrying your pack? Thats what the guide said anyway. I was thinking that I didnt care about accomplishments at that point and a mule would have been fantastic.) Back at camp we got to work setting up our tents, and our guides told us to hurry up because it looked like it could rain any minute. I would be spending the night in a 3 person tent with Lynn and Tom. What happened next? Did we make it to the volcanos rim? Did we see lava? How was the night in the tent with Lynn and Tom? Were there any encounters with the cows? Find out all the answers to these questions and much much more in The Story of the Hike, Part 3.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 00:46:16 +0000
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