After the not-so-pleasant end of my hiking holiday, I was getting back to action with the beginning of another month. Wary in mind but more than ready in my body.
The first hike of September was scheduled for the very first weekend. A bit over two weeks since my overheating mishap, I was to go back to the area – this time, the western end – for another quite challenging hike. Fortunately, the weather cooled down a bit, and I was looking at temperatures appropriate for early September.
The hike was a mash-up of two, one from 2015 and one from 2017. However, given the mentioned mishap, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to manage the full version and expected to take a shorter version.
The initial part was taken from the 2017 hike. Back then, it was cloudy and foggy. This time, some clouds were still around, but there was no fog, so we could enjoy the scenery as soon as we gained some altitude. The first peak, made of white stone, soon dominated the landscape -though the interesting landscaping wasn’t yet discernable.
As we made our way up the hill, the clouds kept floating around, shading this peak or that. Given the sharp ascension, the shade was welcome as it helped me to stay cool.
Weaving between the white spires slowed our progress down a tiny bit – both because of the trail and because of admiring the landscape around. The weather added its unique touch to the scenery.
After a short break at the first peak, we continued on. This meant losing altitude in a noticeable way, heading toward the peak shown in the photo above. There, we took another short break. By now, it was clear that I had enough time – and that my legs carried me quite well – for the full hike. One in our group suggested adding one more peak before the descent, and I made a rough calculation for our timeframe and gave a limit for reaching the (originally) last peak.
At that point, clouds took over. With some gusts of winds, we were hit by droplets of water, but they weren’t enough to call it an actual rain. The trail weaved up and down, exposing us to the wind on the peaks but shading us on the slopes and in the passes. by now, the trail was mostly hard rock, with little vegetation around, as we got above the 1900m mark. In the lower portions, grasses grew, but not much more.
Nearing the final peak, I saw us having a lead of around 20 minutes compared to my rough timeframe, though the final ascension slowed us down a bit.
Thus, we decided to give it a try. The trail marker stated 30 minutes up the “extra” peak but the three of us managed it in 15 minutes.
After taking a couple of photos, we started our descent, first on a zigzagging path from the pass, then an easier portion through the upper valley, then a lighter descent leading to the waterfall, where we could enjoy it alone – a rare occurrence, but I guess the clouds and forecast (low chance of rain showers) deterred many people that day.
From there, we continued down the trail, towards the main valley, and through it to the chalet and the parking lot. I was glad that I managed such a difficult hike (this was definitely in the top 5 lifetime) after what I’ve been though, though the colder weather helped – one thing I noticed was that my perception of body heat was still a bit off towards feeling way too warm, I guess a lingering shock reaction to the overheating from the week-long trip.
The next hike was two weeks after the previous, and it was similar in difficulty, though the weather was a bit more optimistic. The beginning felt quite cold as we started in a shaded part of a valley in its narrowest (and thus coldest) place. But the trail started ascending – sharply – soon after, and I soon thought that my long-sleeve shirt could be too much for the day.
The very first part was, with the limestone spires, the most picturesque.
Because of the beauty and the steepness of the trail, it could be easily called a stairway to heaven. Above the spires, the trail leveled out for a moment, and at the highest point of this first section, allowed us to look at what’s ahead.
The trail led us (from the perspective in the photo above) to the right in a wider loop towards a pass, then across the peaks in the front towards the peaks in the back. The descent wasn’t that steep, but the following ascent had a bit of added difficulty in the lower part due to muddy terrain.
Once again, the trail weaved up and down, across the next three peaks, towards the pass where it was possible to shorten the trip. Then, it ascended up towards the main ridge. Roughly halfway through the ascension is an upper crossing that allows to bypass the next peak, but we had enough time to take the upper route.
However, there’s also a spring near this crossing, so I decided to put it to use, replenishing my near-exhausted water supply while also cooling myself down. I still felt way too warm, so I continued the ascension bare-chested, giving myself a 2-hour”deadline” to avoid getting sunburnt. The main trail was more crowded and, to my surprise, a lot of people there even wore hoodies, despite the warm weather and the light breeze that wasn’t anywhere near cold.
The next bit, towards the main peak, was actually quite relaxing. As the peak was a bit too crowded, we decided to go to the pass and take a break there, having some light refreshments in the form of cold drinks at the buffet at the top station of the cabin lift.
With four hours still to go, we decided to continue the loop, taking the main trail towards the next peaks (the photo above shows the trail from the main peak, as well as the upper station of the cabin lift).
Even though the following ascension was short and nowhere near steep, the hike so far had made its mark on us and we weren’t progressing that fast. Then, we knew we had enough time, so we enjoyed the good weather and the scenery at an easier pace as the trail once again weaved up and down (though more down than up) to the point where we were to start our descent.
From there, the grassy slope was quite steep and maybe worse than anything we walked uphill that day. The chalet below this passage was way too crowded, so we gave up waiting in the line and moved on. Back to the woods, we now faced a muddy trail. Fortunately, we avoided any dirty incidents and reached our meeting point – the lower station of the cabin lift – with some 80 minutes to spare for some rest and final refreshments. Which turned out to be an advantage, as a 10-minute rain shower arrived half an hour later.
So, that’s the story of my two one-day hikes in September. I was glad to see that the overheating incident back in August didn’t affect me in any major way, though I’m still a bit too sensitive to any hints my body gives me – something that might stay with me for a couple more weeks.
For now, I hope September’s treating you well. I’m sure my travels aren’t over yet for the year, but the difficulty will start going down as the autumn takes over.
Tomas - the wandering dreamer 