Mostly wet and cloudy.
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2008
1
12
147
Trip End
May 01, 2009
Loja,
Ecuador
Friday, July 25, 2008
Loja in the distance
. Early next morning we were up and ready to go, but it was raining quite a bit, so mulled the plan over breakfast. We decided to only spend one day here as they had a deadline to meet Johns sister in Lima in a week and my rough plan of being in Ecuador for 6 weeks had already over run slightly now into my 7th week so I was happy to push on to Peru soon anyway. We found a bus company in the town who go regularly across the border to Piura in North of Peru. To enjoy a full day here we opted to take the night bus leaving at 11pm. So bus tickets booked and the weather clearing slightly we headed to the park for an afternoon of hiking. Wet and cold will remain one of the main memories if the park hike, we set ourselves an ambitious task from the outset. The ranger at the refuge said that to hike the whole route would take at lest 6 hours and we had arranged for a taxi to collect us at 5pm so only 5.5 hours to make it.. and he said that due to the rain the route at the highest point would be a bit dangerous to get up to and pass. We considered this advise and started out with the thought in mind that we would keep an eye on the time and that we would come back the same way if it became too difficult. We made it to the first look out point not too bad, quite muddy in places but as long as it didn't get much worse we thought it would be ok. It rained quite hard at this point and we then considered if to go on or not as we were pretty soaked now. We continued on as we wanted to make it to the highest point at least before turning back
Acorss the valley
. So on and up we went, its a cloud forest so as one would imagine, lots of cloud. Each time we came to a peak we thought we had made it only to see the next and the next as a dark outline through the cloud. We were certainly getting higher and the path thinner and thinner. We were scrambling up shear rock at points and walking along the precipice of the mountain which was literally only the width of the path with almost sheer drop on both sides...Oh and the wind had now taken its turn along with the rain in an effort to deter us from continuing on. We couldn't get any wetter and all of our boots were now letting in water so on we pressed. The scenery was very spectacular as to our right through the clearing cloud we could see the valley below and the mountains in the distance, to our left and mostly around us cloud and the lashing rain. It was certainly in distinct contrast to the dry and sometimes barren islands I had visited in the Galapagos. I thought to myself a few times that I really thought we were in trouble here as one slip would end in falling over the edge. I concluded you wouldn't fall that far as the density of the trees and bush would catch you before you went too far. It would probably hurt though.We reached the point of no return, we had been going for over two and a half hours and the way back wasn't too inviting with all the climbing we had done to get this far and all that in reverse was going to take even longer. Finally we made the top no more peaks above us then we saw a sign pointing in the opposite direction 2km to the highest point
The only way is up!
! Err how does that work then? we were at the highest point surly? That being the case and checking the time we were on schedule to be back at the ranger station in time for our return transport, the ranger said it was only 2 hours from the highest point back to the refuge.The descent was a lot easier and we were now out out of the wind and the rain had stopped. It was very slippery though, we all managed to fall over at some point but thankfully the descent was much wider area than the narrow precipice we were on before.Unfortunately I did make the most spectacular tumble while crossing a stream, I made the jump across and landed ok but then lost my balance and ended up going head first down into the stream and sliding along down it wondering when I was going to stop as it was a lot steeper than it appeared from the standing position I once had above it. It felt like a long way but I didn't slide that far. Jo came to see if I was ok and wanted to help me up but could do little as I was upside down in the stream. My rendition of this story may not seem all that funny now but that became quote of the day. because I'm upside down. it was just one of those moments. People falling over is always funny after all. I kept laughing about it all the way down, I still am now, despite smashing my knee on a rock which is still rather sore and a few grazes to my hand, all is well. We hadn't realised just how far we had gone up and were all feeling tired and drained when at last I saw the road that the refuge was on, we´re here!! I shouted with much relief to the guys behind me, and we had managed it in only 5 hours.. Half an hour to sit and try to dry off in front of the very welcoming log fire in the refuge before the taxi arrived. We met other hikers at the refuge who had tried to do the route but had turned back so we felt quite satisfied at our efforts, though it may have been a little unwise to have done it in those conditions.. 
Comments
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Haha, Jon be careful! By the way have you heard of paragraphs?