We woke up at our usually time of 7:45 for breakfast. However, instead of our traditional cereal, yogurt, and rye bread, we were pleasantly surprised with toast and scrambled eggs with peppers! It was a great change and definitely kept my stomach completely full until lunch. Since today is our last day in this quiet little town in the fjord, we were each given the option to either hike up a nearby trail or walk along the coast in hopes of seeing whales or Dolphins. Knowing me, I had to go hiking so that I could see the best possible view of the city (and get some excercise at the same time). It took us some time to get the groups together and make lunch for everyone, so we didn't set off for our adventures until a little before 11:00. I voluntarily signed up to be the carrier for all of the sandwiches of the people going on the hike, which turned out to be much heavier than I had originally expected. Who knew that peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches could weight so much? Luckily, not everyone went on the hike, so I only had to carry about 16 sandwiches instead of 20... Such a relief.
After we set out for our journey, we wondered around the town for about an hour trying to find out where the trail actually was. We couldn't find it anywhere! We saw a man walking towards us who looked like he knew what he was doing, so we asked him if he knew where we should be heading. Of course, the only other human that was up and about at this particular time was not a native of the town, so he had no idea what we were talking about. We decided to keep walking through the town and hopefully we would eventually discover the location of the trail. After about 30 minutes, we found another human being (the 2nd one for the day)! We asked her same question and luckily, she spoke great English and told us the exact information we were looking for! We were now on our way to finally being able to hike the trail!
However, it still took some time to find the starting point. All we could see was the sign that showed the general location of where the trail exists, or better yet, existed. We decided to create our own path since we were having such bad luck and starting wading our way through the brushy vegetation that blocked our view of the top of the mountain. After some time of skipping over creeks, breathing heavily from the tough climb uphill, and shedding multiple layers of clothing, we decided to take a short break to eat the sandwiches that were breaking my back. As we sat in silence and munched on our food, I looked at my surroundings and began to notice even the smallest details. The rocks that I was sitting on had multiple signs of fracturing due to freezing and thawing, they were different colors due to oxidation, and the river had a brown hue to it also due to a strong iron content from oxidation. Before this trip, I would never notice these details, much less know why they occurred, but now that I have learned so much, I am able to make my own observations without someone always pointing them out to me. Once we had all finished eating our lunch, we continued on our trip up the mountain. Everything went smoothly. We had no problems, everyone in the group always stayed together, and there were very few obstacles that kept us from constantly moving forward. Once we made it to the top, the view was quite gorgeous as one could expect. The U-shaped valley as clearly defined from glacial erosion, basaltic terraces were in full view, and the city looked like a tiny anthill from where we were standing. We all took a 2 minute silence break so that we could individual connect with nature. As I laid back and closed my eyes, the only sounds that I could hear came from the strong wind weaving its way through the peaks of the mountains. It was absolutely amazing to be able to listen to this force! I never knew that wind had such a powerful voice! When it was time to head back down, I was sad to leave my warm spot (especially since I was sheltered from the wind due to the rocks that surrounded me). The trip back down the mountain is called "I almost broke my ankles. Multiple times." Having to balance on fracturd rocks without falling over or twisting a leg was extremely difficult! I felt like I was running on a bridge that was downhill and kept breaking with every step that I took. Luckily, everyone was able to make it back to hostel safely around 4:30 pm. The only injuries we had came from sore muscles.
We planned on going to the sea-monster museum located right next to our hostel, but due to the amount of energy that was required to hike the 5 hour trail, none of us had the strength to visit this tourist trap. Instead, I went to the town grocery store (which is also the town restaurant), and bought a glass jar of Nutella, crackers and a small bag of trail mix. I have been a bit hungry right before I head to bed the last couple of nights and I wanted to be prepared for tonight's starvation epidemic. Around 7 pm., we had a vegetable soup for dinner (which was quite delicious) and relaxed after having such a physically, intense day. The rest of the night was devoted to our own personal preference, whether it was catching up on work, washing clothes in the sink, or working on the daily group project (which I completed with my group). Tomorrow, we depart from Bildudalur and head to our new location further south. I'm looking forward to hopefully a little warmer weather and new landforms to discover.
No comments:
Post a Comment