The lesson of today’s hike was: we know how to do wrong really right!
This climb was with our friends Charlie, Michael and Jess (whose birthday it also happened to be). This was the first hike I had done without guides since a mountain climbing day in Wales a couple of years back. We were headed to Bear Mountain, on the west banks of the Hudson River containing trails that are part of the Appalachian trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine.
Upon arriving it became clear already that the horror movie overtones of our previously blogged trip had been replaced by a noisy and completely enjoyable early morning hilarity. Furthermore, the base of the mountain was not so much just one small shack, as it was the largest cookout by a lake I believe I may ever have seen. That said, we had hiking to do and as such, the temptation of a day of cookouts had to be forsaken for a long (unbeknownst to us at this point how long!) hike through the forests.
The first trial, and first mistake, came when selecting where to start. We asked a local gift store seller where the trail began and he usefully pointed us in the right direction, letting us know that it would really only take about an hour. This seemed somewhat disappointing but none the less, on we went. We came across the first trail markers for the yellow trail, the one which we assumed at this point based on local signage was the Bear Mountain trail, and off we set. It was only upon returning to this spot some 7 hours later that we also discovered [an easier] white trail starting at the same location. Lesson learned there, read a more detailed map first!
Suspicions were first aroused when the trail started to go what can only be described as both downhill and away from the mountain. However, with much talk of “sometimes one must go down to go up” and other such phrases, on we went. An hour later it clicked that we hadn’t really gone up much at all and that this was in fact, perhaps, not the right trail. None of this really mattered to us in all honesty though. We were having a great and often hilarious time featuring many strange comments about our “wilderness gang” voiced in creepy American TV game show host accents.
About this time, with Jess taking the lead, we stopped to the sound of: “Wilderness gang, we have a problem.” Kelly was next to the scene to spy what was in fact, most assuredly a problem. A very large snake was lying next to the path and Jess had missed stepping on it by a tiny margin. Charlie usefully stated that he was quite sure there were most likely not many poisonous snakes in this region, before saying “I think it’s a rattlesnake.” As if on cue we heard the overly distinctive rattle and ran away like the snake phobic people we are. (It must be stated at this point however that Michael did, in fact, not run away. He instead stayed where he was to get a good laugh watching all of us).
We heard a few more rattles and decided the best course of action was to have a lookout whilst one by one, we all went off the path to the opposite side and cleared the snake by a very wide berth. Happy in our success we continued on with calls of “Wilderness gang challenge one: Complete!” As an aside, it occurred to Kelly later that if we can keep anything like this sense of fun whilst climbing Kilimajaro, or at least find ways to lighten the mood, we will have a significantly better chance of success.
It seemed pertinent at this point to check the map with a renewed vigor, and, this being the future, an iPhone with full signal was employed for the task. We were most assuredly going the wrong way and away from the mountain. We managed to work out the trails we needed however without too much worry and set back on the right paths on what we later found to be a 6 mile diversion over two more mountains than we had intended to climb!
The views atop West Mountain were incredible however and made it all very worth it. We got to walk along a very beautiful ridge with incredible views to either side, and whilst the phrase “god must have been a painter” was delivered in jest, there was more than a hint of truth… but then we got tired. And we realized, 5 hours or so into the day, and two mountains already climbed, that the quickest way back to the car was actually over Bear Mountain. An elder gentlemen with two cute puppies was also helpful enough to point out that it was in fact very steep and not that easy. And 4 miles. Helpful words indeed.
Somewhat begrudgingly at first we set off on what was quickly appearing to be a route that was straight up (after a strange diversion along a road — more on that later). This last part was not that easy, but we all knuckled down. Without terribly much in the way of any complaining, but a notable cessation in conversation, we continued our assent. Just at the stage when we were all ready for a little break and decided to do so at the next clearing, we reached the clearing, and mercifully, the top of the mountain. We had conquered the originally intended mountain — a mountain with a parking lot on top. And a Powerade machine. Clearly we were charting new paths through the wilderness at this stage!
On the way back down we had the benefit of a staircase carved into the rocks. A staircase which led us back to the point at which we started, and the hitherto unseen sign for the trail leading directly up Bear Mountain. All told, we were very glad to have got it totally wrong and had a full day hike out of our trip not simply a quick, but knee busting, hour long staircase climb.
As for lessons learned for Kili, it’s always nice to know you can break through a wall of tiredness and just keep on keeping on. This ended up being a very full day hike, and whilst not a full comparison, we are hurting very little today considering. It is even nicer to know our moods can be retained throughout minor setbacks as well. Largely though it is hard to know how much preparation is enough, but the fact that we enjoy so thoroughly going out and hiking gives me great hope. The process of doing all this is a lot of fun, despite the work, and as such makes the whole endeavor feel much more attainable.
In additional news about the larger projects at hand now, we are very firmly into the process of planning our fundraisers and will have details soon. As ever, any thoughts/comments are gratefully received. We will be blogging next in a little more detail about GAFFER also in order that it becomes clear just why we are doing this all. Granted, it is a wonderful personal adventure, but there is a much greater reason than our attempts to do something personally challenging, and we would like to highlight those in more detail shortly to try and put this all in a bit of context.
So for now, over and out and thanks for all the support,
James & Kelly (Manjaro)
