Sunday, April 26, 2009
Whatever comes, goes.
Yesterday, we finished our 43K hike to prep for The Big One. We hiked part of the Oxfam trail itself, starting at 9:00pm on Friday - after a day at work - and finishing at 1:15pm the next day, about 15 hours in total... or 15:15:15 as Ken's watch read when he happened to click 'stop'. We didn't sleep all night; we just hiked. This is us before our hike, at around 9:00pm:
At the start of our hike, for some reason we got onto the topic of serial killers (why, why??). The beginning of any team hike is always an experimental time, with deciding who is best to lead, and finding the most comfortable pace. I found myself in front for the hike up Mt. Myojingatake, which took about two hours. We switched off our headlamps at the top and, squinting, could make out that we were above the cloud line. We kept climbing and the conversation kept flowing.
At the start of our hike, for some reason we got onto the topic of serial killers (why, why??). The beginning of any team hike is always an experimental time, with deciding who is best to lead, and finding the most comfortable pace. I found myself in front for the hike up Mt. Myojingatake, which took about two hours. We switched off our headlamps at the top and, squinting, could make out that we were above the cloud line. We kept climbing and the conversation kept flowing.
Our hike continued through the night. It was expected to rain 40mm that night, so we waited any moment for it to start coming down. Luckily, though we hiked through dense fog most of the night, it didn't actually start raining until after sunrise. Sunrise itself was a frustrating time... we spent the opening of dawn getting lost along the trail, finally calling our friends for advice on how to proceed.
At this point, we were nearing the hilarity stage... It was about 5:00am and we'd been hiking for 8 hours. Ken was wearing his jacket on his shoulders and over his backpack... this was the beginnings of Ken the Turtle jokes. But I was probably most prone to its effects, as I slurred out something fairly incomprehensible then said, "hey, give me a break, I've been awake for 30 kilometers!" (I don't what that means.) I brushed it off by musing, "Hey, whatever comes, goes." ...A tidbit that has become our new motto.
The next few hours were getting difficult as we reached the 12-hour mark, but at least it was daylight and we could enjoy the views.
At 11:00am, 13 hours into our hike, we reached the peak of our second mountain and we were feeling miserable. The rain had soaked through everything at that point. Finally, at 1:00pm, we made it to the train station (where Rae was so excited she couldn't contain herself.)
We got on the train, went home, and crashed. For the Trailwalk itself, we'll be hiking more than double what we did yesterday. Whew.
