mount doom
What a day. We climbed a goshdarn volcano. It’s called Mount Etna. It’s active. The trails are steep and very little traveled, cause Italians are sane. I guess I should start at the beginning.
We were supposed to leave at 8:00 AM Sunday morning but we got word earlier this week that it would be better to see the freshly erupted(!) lava floes if we went later. Which meant I could still have a fun Saturday night. That might have been a mistake. We left at 11:00 in the morning and took the bus for two hours ending up halfway up the volcano. We had a guide with us who was very knowledgeable about the volcano and the flora and fauna in its vicinity but who was not very interesting. And this was the man leading us up incredibly steep and barely existent trails. Cool.
I thought the first leg was going to do me in. Steep and rocky trail right up the side of the mountain and a very tired Christine at high altitudes = not fun. After that the trail got a bit more gentle but not much. We hiked up one side of the mountain and then came upon a huge valley, the valley of the ox they call it, and the view was astounding. What looked like a mile below us were (dry) lava floes and some gorgeous plants. Then we proceeded to descend into the valley where the trail was completely sand and ash. We basically moon bounced/skied down into the valley. It was fun, but that’s pretty much where the fun ended.
We hiked through the lava floes after having lunch but none of us really felt we were seeing anything but grey rocks. Once we had convinced ourselves that we had gone up and then down and we wouldn’t be going back up, we were foiled. The trail up to the peak was awful, for lack of a better word. Then we hiked back down to meet up with the bus for about an hour. By that time we had been hiking for four hours and were completely tired and basically delirious. We sang Disney songs and prayed to be eaten alive by cougars. Enough said.
It was definitely an experience and I probably would have been a little jealous if I hadn’t gone. At the same time, I could have done without it. My calves are currently planning my demise and I’m sure the rest of me will hate me tomorrow, and all those who peer pressured me into going. Now it’s time for a late dinner of leftovers and a nice long sleep. Thank goodness I don’t have class until 3:30 tomorrow.
Oh and since it’s still the 20th here even though I won’t be uploading until tomorrow:
Happy birthday Mike!
Yay 17 years of being alive!
We were supposed to leave at 8:00 AM Sunday morning but we got word earlier this week that it would be better to see the freshly erupted(!) lava floes if we went later. Which meant I could still have a fun Saturday night. That might have been a mistake. We left at 11:00 in the morning and took the bus for two hours ending up halfway up the volcano. We had a guide with us who was very knowledgeable about the volcano and the flora and fauna in its vicinity but who was not very interesting. And this was the man leading us up incredibly steep and barely existent trails. Cool.
I thought the first leg was going to do me in. Steep and rocky trail right up the side of the mountain and a very tired Christine at high altitudes = not fun. After that the trail got a bit more gentle but not much. We hiked up one side of the mountain and then came upon a huge valley, the valley of the ox they call it, and the view was astounding. What looked like a mile below us were (dry) lava floes and some gorgeous plants. Then we proceeded to descend into the valley where the trail was completely sand and ash. We basically moon bounced/skied down into the valley. It was fun, but that’s pretty much where the fun ended.
We hiked through the lava floes after having lunch but none of us really felt we were seeing anything but grey rocks. Once we had convinced ourselves that we had gone up and then down and we wouldn’t be going back up, we were foiled. The trail up to the peak was awful, for lack of a better word. Then we hiked back down to meet up with the bus for about an hour. By that time we had been hiking for four hours and were completely tired and basically delirious. We sang Disney songs and prayed to be eaten alive by cougars. Enough said.
It was definitely an experience and I probably would have been a little jealous if I hadn’t gone. At the same time, I could have done without it. My calves are currently planning my demise and I’m sure the rest of me will hate me tomorrow, and all those who peer pressured me into going. Now it’s time for a late dinner of leftovers and a nice long sleep. Thank goodness I don’t have class until 3:30 tomorrow.
Oh and since it’s still the 20th here even though I won’t be uploading until tomorrow:
Happy birthday Mike!
Yay 17 years of being alive!