Distance: 17km
Elevation: 904m
Time: 5h15

It had the potential for thunderstorms on the forecast, so we had another 6:45am departure because we knew it would be a long day. It had been so good to stay in the apartment and get some decent sleep. Both of us were very happy with our decision.

Our route was a steep uphill climb for around 7km almost from the moment we began, so the gears were engaged and the climb was on.

For some reason my hamstring was feeling a little twitchy, so I spent a fair amount of our silent hour negotiating with my breath and chatting to my glutes.

It’s always a little tense for me on days when storms are forecast because I need to know I can get shelter. And the more we progressed on this route, the more I realised we were fully exposed for most of the day.

But once again, I found myself trying to train my brain to stay present and absorb the birdsong, my body sensations and the exquisite landscape around me. Any time I caught myself slipping into anxiety or fear, I brought myself back.

Awareness is the first step to change.

The route was beautiful. We climbed through meadows for the first two thirds of the day. The mountain peaks felt a little more removed than on previous hikes, although they were still visible in a full 360-degree rotation around us.

There were so many shades of green.

At one point I found myself thanking God for all the shades He had made available to us. Imagine how boring the world would be if there was only one shade of green.

Mum was mostly behind me on the climb. At one point, after around 4km of uphill and 600m of elevation gain, I asked if we could keep pushing a little further to gain some more ground.

Sho.

We certainly gained more elevation quickly.

The final 200m of elevation gain really took its toll and we kept checking in with each other as we climbed. When we finally reached the top, we agreed to stop at the first shaded spot we could find.

About 200m before the shelter we had spotted, I saw an animal run behind the hut.

“Another Bambi,” I said to Mum.

We carried on walking.

A few moments later the animal stepped out again and looked directly at us.

“What is that?” I asked.

“A wolf?” replied my mother.

Now, after our conversation with the locals the previous evening, we were both still completely undecided about what one is actually supposed to do when faced with a wolf.

My mum, however, became excited.

Properly excited.

“Tash, we get to see a wolf! How exciting!”

“Okay Mum, but what do we do?”

“Keep going on our path.”

Which, from my perspective, appeared to involve walking directly towards said wolf.

“Mum, seriously? We need to divert a little.”

“But there may be snakes.”

As we began implementing my mother’s completely bonkers wolf strategy, a sausage dog came charging out from behind the wolf, shortly followed by a hiker.

We both burst out laughing.

The wolf then trotted over to my mum carrying a stick.

Crisis averted.

We wolfed down, excuse the terrible pun, our rehydrated beef stew and took a brief break. Within ten minutes we were back on our feet, barely rested but determined to beat the weather, which seemed to build dramatically and then dissolve just as quickly.

As we moved further into the descent, the skies shifted from bright blue to increasing cloud cover. After lunch my backpack was absolutely killing me. For some reason it was pulling backwards on my neck and no amount of fiddling with the straps seemed to offer any relief.

We had made our next goal a pack stop at 12km, but by then both of us were struggling. We had pushed the uphill hard in the morning.

So we stopped.

Not long afterwards we reached a shady forest and Mum needed a loo break. Somehow, very unlike us, we ended up stopping completely.

Packs off.

Coffee made.

Rusks unpacked.

And then we both indulged in a ten minute lie down in the middle of the trail.

It was glorious.

We felt so much better afterwards and were reminded once again how important it is to rest and take proper pack breaks.

After 14km my backpack finally started behaving itself and when Mum suggested a swim, I hesitated for only a moment before spotting a beautiful waterfall in the distance.

I cannot resist a waterfall.

And I am so glad we didn’t.

It was sublime.

The water was incredibly refreshing and the joy splashing onto both of us felt like a reminder of how much we love doing this together and how grateful we are to be here.

The remainder of the walk through Pido and along the shaded river path felt effortless after our coffee and swim.

One note to self from this trip so far: we have been incredibly impressed by how walkable the paths are here.

Before checking into our room, we made one final stop at the local bar for a cold drink and even colder water.

Such a great day.

Again.

Loving this. ❤️