We started our day at 5:30 for breakfast. Then we had a group picture including all of the cooks, porters and horsemen. We only need to gather our things that we want the horses to carry and pack our day packs and the porters take down our tents. They also do all the set up and clean up for meals. We eat inside a tent with the cooks' tent next to it and they deliver the food to us. It's really nice to be so catered to especially on a camping/hiking trip. That usually doesn't happen on my backpacking trips.
We started our trek thru the tiny village and we were all in awe of how beautiful this place is. It is located in a valley surrounded by gigantic mountains. These people grow crops, mostly several different types of potatoes, and also they farm animals - llamas, alpacas, sheep. The shepherds let their flocks roam and they often go way way high up the mountains where the shepherds have to go climb up to gather them. I'm so amazed at the physical condition the locals have developed by farming in these high altitudes.
Today we climbed and climbed and climbed until we reached the peak of the mountain which is 15,455ft!! The brochure said that we would go 14,500, so I was shocked when our guide's altimeter read the higher elevation. Actually the climb itself was not unusually hard for me. It was no different than the grade of mountains we climbed on the Appalachian trail, but when we got to around 13,500 ft. I began to feel fatigued and a little light headed and it only got more intense as we went up. I actually got dizzy and felt that feeling like I could faint but never did. This lasted the whole way up and for quite a distance down the other side of the mountain. I stopped all the time to take several breaths but still no improvement. The guide said this was normal so I just kept on going until I reached that "finish line". We still had about one and a half hours until we reached our lunch spot after reaching the summit, then the same amount of time 'til our camp site. But it was all downhill so my finish line was the mountain peak. I felt better descending the mountain, but not 100% until maybe when we reached our camp site and I have been really pooped throughout our evening activities - getting our tents organized, "happy hour" which is popcorn and hot chocolate, then dinner and a campfire. Anyway tonight hopefully is a good night's sleep. It's been really cold here at night. It was about 35 degrees last night. And probably the same tonight. Brrrrrrrr.
No comments:
Post a Comment