Finally, Mountains!
I met a girl, Kate, from Colorado yesterday. We agreed to meet at 6:15AM to try to get to the top of the mountain (about 7.5km) by sunrise. We made it, and it was glorious. Definitely worth the early start. We watched the whole event in silence.
Not far past our mountain oasis is Cruz Ferro, the monument where you are supposed to leave a rock (your burden) behind you.
There was quite the gathering of pilgrims there.
In the valley between the peaks, there is an Albergue that is… Quite interesting. I chose to move past quite quickly as I was put off by the vibe.
The trail seems to have been rerouted over the second peak such that it ‘goes around’ the peak, so I scrambled to the top, because you gotta! Did I mention there was mountains? I’m really stoked about the mountains.
The descent was pretty rough. The trail was Rocky, and was like actual hiking. I took it very, very, slowly due to my shin. The towns on the way down were all very cute. I’ve stopped in Molinaseca for the night. It has a river, and a green park along the river. This is my favorite thing! I borrowed ice for my shin.
It appears that the river is usually damned up for swimming, but the water is low right now. I made myself food and did some stretching in the grass. The trees were interesting. I like when it starts to cool off in the evening.
