Yep, I’m tired.
16 miles, 3k elevation gain, rain, mud, wind. Slippery terrain. To say that our first official day of trekking was “memorable” would be…one way to describe it.
And also…today lands somewhere in my list of top 5 most-beautiful-hikes-of-my-life, so no regrets. Well, I regret that I couldn’t take more photos because it was raining the entire time.
And also…even when things felt tough, I reminded myself that I wasn’t carrying a 10-day food ration and 20 pounds of extra water (OEL Field Semester), we didn’t have to do a pack float/full swim and belay a dog down a canyon (scouting trip with Russ), and it wasn’t 17 miles with 5k elevation loss + 2k elevation gain and a heavier pack (last month’s backpacking trip with Cory in the Grand Canyon), so it didn’t even crack the top three of “most difficult backpacking experiences” list.
And also…Mom and Dad, you’ll be happy to know that I hiked in a knee brace and an ankle brace and used trekking poles. My heinous bunions are doing okay and I look forward to getting them surgered after this trip.
The walk itself was certainly worth doing at least once. Might be a one-and-done for me. I’ll have to check to see if I took any photos.
After arriving in Roncesvales, we settled in and ate dinner as a group in the albergue that the students stayed in before attending mass. The priest blessed the pilgrims in many languages and wished us well on our journey.
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