To start...
Sep. 28th, 2005 07:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwrenI woke up in the middle of the night with absolutely no idea where I was. I looked around my room for what seemed like an endless amount of time before finally remembering that I'd come home.
Most of my updates will be directly from my personal journal, or I'd write forever. I'm going to just stick to highlights. Before I do, though, here is a breakdown of what I did. I kept a concise calendar in my journal, noting what I did that day, so I wouldn't get temporally disoriented and have to ask people what day it was.
Sept 13: Left. Home to DC to Munich. Slept on plane.
Sept 14: Arrived Munich, went on to Salzburg and Berchesgaden.
Sept 15: Hiked above Konigssee in the National Park. Late train to Munich.
Sept 16: Flew to Athens.
Sept 17: Train to Larissa, Litochora.
Sept 18: Hiked Mt. Olympos. Stayed at Refuge A.
Sept 19: Hiked Mt. Olympos. Hiked out, late bus to Thessaloniki.
(The rest on my next post)
Sept 14: Arrived Munich, went on to Salzburg and Berchesgaden.
Sept 15: Hiked above Konigssee in the National Park. Late train to Munich.
I already wrote about my hiking in the Berchesgaden National Park a while ago, so I'll not add anything to it now. I very much would like to go back and spend more time in this area. After flying over the Alps though, I can see that there's a lot of choices for starting points, so I'll probably continue my Alps exploration elsewhere just for the sake of diversity.
Sept 16: Flew to Athens.
One thing I have really come to realize is that I dislike cities a lot more than I thought I did. I've always said that I prefer, not the cities, but the land that stretches out from them, and this holds true. Even with that, though, Athens is huge, overcrowded, overflowing with Eurokids and just too much. I really enjoyed exploring the old maze-like streets when I was there last, and getting lost en route to the Acropolis is a time-honored tradition, I'm sure, but I was really glad to leave. I'll not be deliberately going to Athens as a destination again, just using it as a point to get other places.
Sept 17: Train to Larissa, Litochora.
Sept 18: Hiked Mt. Olympos. Stayed at Refuge A.
Sept 19: Hiked Mt. Olympos. Hiked out, late bus to Thessaloniki.
This really was the highlight of my trip. I loved hiking Mt. Olympos. But then, I knew I would. Seeing the mountains rise up above me for the first time was wonderful. I'd always imagined Mt. Olympos to look like Mt. Rainier, but it's a series of peaks, shrouded in mist and mystery. A maze of a mountain. It's not difficult to see why it was considered the home of the gods.
Personal Journal: Gomez
I met a man on the train named Gomez who is a priest and a religious scholar. He's older, about 70 or maybe a hard-lived 60 and heading to Thessaloniki from Venezuela. He's ethnically Armenian and orginally from Lebanon, but talked about the troubles with the Arabs that forced his family to emigrate to South America. He'd lived in Thessaloniki for ten years, back in the 70s and was returning for a one-year sabbatical while working on his Ph.D on the differences between "our church" and "their church." I assume he meant Roman Catholic vs Greek Orthodox, but he did accuse me of going to Olympos to "meet the gods." He then gave me homemade biscotti and blessed me when I got off the train in Larissa.
Personal Journal: Litochora train station
After I caught the train to Litochora (pronounced leetho-HOR-a), I asked the conductor to let me know where to get off. It's not always obvious and the train doesn't stop for long. Hokay. After an hour or so, the train stopped and the conductor hollered, "Litochora!" and pointed at me. The problem was, it was an abandoned rail station in the middle of nowhere. The doors were barred shut; glass was broken. I could see the ocean a little in the distance, but no town. The road looked pretty new (with one abandoned car sitting on it), but had grass and plants growing over it. It looked like I'd arrived about four months after the Apocalypse.
After wandering around for a while, I saw no other option than to set off on foot. After a mile or so, I came to a larger road and a possibly abandoned bus stop. I also saw a sign indicating that LItochora was actually 5 km up a hill, toward the mountain. Ok. I can hike that if need be. But I sat at the deserted bus stop for a while and watched all the Greek guys giving me the once-over as they drove by, but no one stopping to help. Finally, two people carrying backpacks and hiking sticks approached from the general direction of the freeway. As they came up, I heard them speak English and said, "You must be American." They were, and from Seattle at that. We decided to pool our resources and flagged down a passing cab. Paid E5 to get up to the town and made plans to share a cab fee up to the trailhead in the morning. A fortuitous meeting!
Litochora may be a "climber's town," but it's one of the nicest I've seen. Maybe the lack of tourists, other than people determined to climb the mountain. There is one hawt guy who has a little store there, just to let you know. Ted, Cathy and I climbed the first few hours together but when we reached the refuge, they stopped for the night. I verified cot space and then climbed to the summit of Skala. Returned fairly late and very tired. I got up before dawn the next morning and climbed toward Skala again, then stopped to watch the sun rise. Meditated on the mountain with my palms toward Helios, thinking of the story of the heliotrope. I summited Skala again and started toward Myticas. That's when it went from hard to dangerous, and after a while, I abandoned the attempt. I would not mind going back some day with a partner and trying Myticas again. It's totally do-able, but better to have a partner. One wrong move and you're toast. Instead, I summited Skolios and another smaller peak, then dropped down into the bowl and hiked out that way.
Personal Journal: Skala
It was very windy. The wind almost knocked me down several times and then DID knock me down. I fell on my walking stick and broke it, which actually concerned me a lot because I really depended on that thing for stability. It was hard to breathe.
At the top, I veered off to the right and sad on a ledge overlooking a tremendous dropoff.
Had my conversation with the gods.
I then took the long, thick strand of shed hair that I'd collected throughout the trip. I'd lined each hair up by the root and tied them together. The wind blew it out in a straight line, and I released it into the void. It swirled and looped in the sky like a ribbon or a dragon playing for at least 20 seconds, hung over the abyss. It was an unexpected and strangely amazing sight against the stormy gray sky. Very visible, too. A black streak looping and playing and swirling around in the same spot, about ten feet out and directly in front of my eyes. Finally, in an instant, it stretched out straight and streamed out of sight.
Hiked down the next day, after leaving Ted and Cathy a note saying goodbye. They were still on the mountain and I wanted to spend my time on the trail, not waiting for them. After some hassle with getting off the mountain (the locals didn't want to taxi just one person down), I begged a ride off a couple of German guys and ended up back in Litochora, 18km away. I caught a bus to Katerini and stayed there for all of ten minutes. Scary town...caught the next bus to Thessaloniki.
Nearing Skala on Mt. Olympos
Most of my updates will be directly from my personal journal, or I'd write forever. I'm going to just stick to highlights. Before I do, though, here is a breakdown of what I did. I kept a concise calendar in my journal, noting what I did that day, so I wouldn't get temporally disoriented and have to ask people what day it was.
Sept 13: Left. Home to DC to Munich. Slept on plane.
Sept 14: Arrived Munich, went on to Salzburg and Berchesgaden.
Sept 15: Hiked above Konigssee in the National Park. Late train to Munich.
Sept 16: Flew to Athens.
Sept 17: Train to Larissa, Litochora.
Sept 18: Hiked Mt. Olympos. Stayed at Refuge A.
Sept 19: Hiked Mt. Olympos. Hiked out, late bus to Thessaloniki.
(The rest on my next post)
Sept 14: Arrived Munich, went on to Salzburg and Berchesgaden.
Sept 15: Hiked above Konigssee in the National Park. Late train to Munich.
I already wrote about my hiking in the Berchesgaden National Park a while ago, so I'll not add anything to it now. I very much would like to go back and spend more time in this area. After flying over the Alps though, I can see that there's a lot of choices for starting points, so I'll probably continue my Alps exploration elsewhere just for the sake of diversity.
Sept 16: Flew to Athens.
One thing I have really come to realize is that I dislike cities a lot more than I thought I did. I've always said that I prefer, not the cities, but the land that stretches out from them, and this holds true. Even with that, though, Athens is huge, overcrowded, overflowing with Eurokids and just too much. I really enjoyed exploring the old maze-like streets when I was there last, and getting lost en route to the Acropolis is a time-honored tradition, I'm sure, but I was really glad to leave. I'll not be deliberately going to Athens as a destination again, just using it as a point to get other places.
Sept 17: Train to Larissa, Litochora.
Sept 18: Hiked Mt. Olympos. Stayed at Refuge A.
Sept 19: Hiked Mt. Olympos. Hiked out, late bus to Thessaloniki.
This really was the highlight of my trip. I loved hiking Mt. Olympos. But then, I knew I would. Seeing the mountains rise up above me for the first time was wonderful. I'd always imagined Mt. Olympos to look like Mt. Rainier, but it's a series of peaks, shrouded in mist and mystery. A maze of a mountain. It's not difficult to see why it was considered the home of the gods.
Personal Journal: Gomez
I met a man on the train named Gomez who is a priest and a religious scholar. He's older, about 70 or maybe a hard-lived 60 and heading to Thessaloniki from Venezuela. He's ethnically Armenian and orginally from Lebanon, but talked about the troubles with the Arabs that forced his family to emigrate to South America. He'd lived in Thessaloniki for ten years, back in the 70s and was returning for a one-year sabbatical while working on his Ph.D on the differences between "our church" and "their church." I assume he meant Roman Catholic vs Greek Orthodox, but he did accuse me of going to Olympos to "meet the gods." He then gave me homemade biscotti and blessed me when I got off the train in Larissa.
Personal Journal: Litochora train station
After I caught the train to Litochora (pronounced leetho-HOR-a), I asked the conductor to let me know where to get off. It's not always obvious and the train doesn't stop for long. Hokay. After an hour or so, the train stopped and the conductor hollered, "Litochora!" and pointed at me. The problem was, it was an abandoned rail station in the middle of nowhere. The doors were barred shut; glass was broken. I could see the ocean a little in the distance, but no town. The road looked pretty new (with one abandoned car sitting on it), but had grass and plants growing over it. It looked like I'd arrived about four months after the Apocalypse.
After wandering around for a while, I saw no other option than to set off on foot. After a mile or so, I came to a larger road and a possibly abandoned bus stop. I also saw a sign indicating that LItochora was actually 5 km up a hill, toward the mountain. Ok. I can hike that if need be. But I sat at the deserted bus stop for a while and watched all the Greek guys giving me the once-over as they drove by, but no one stopping to help. Finally, two people carrying backpacks and hiking sticks approached from the general direction of the freeway. As they came up, I heard them speak English and said, "You must be American." They were, and from Seattle at that. We decided to pool our resources and flagged down a passing cab. Paid E5 to get up to the town and made plans to share a cab fee up to the trailhead in the morning. A fortuitous meeting!
Litochora may be a "climber's town," but it's one of the nicest I've seen. Maybe the lack of tourists, other than people determined to climb the mountain. There is one hawt guy who has a little store there, just to let you know. Ted, Cathy and I climbed the first few hours together but when we reached the refuge, they stopped for the night. I verified cot space and then climbed to the summit of Skala. Returned fairly late and very tired. I got up before dawn the next morning and climbed toward Skala again, then stopped to watch the sun rise. Meditated on the mountain with my palms toward Helios, thinking of the story of the heliotrope. I summited Skala again and started toward Myticas. That's when it went from hard to dangerous, and after a while, I abandoned the attempt. I would not mind going back some day with a partner and trying Myticas again. It's totally do-able, but better to have a partner. One wrong move and you're toast. Instead, I summited Skolios and another smaller peak, then dropped down into the bowl and hiked out that way.
Personal Journal: Skala
It was very windy. The wind almost knocked me down several times and then DID knock me down. I fell on my walking stick and broke it, which actually concerned me a lot because I really depended on that thing for stability. It was hard to breathe.
At the top, I veered off to the right and sad on a ledge overlooking a tremendous dropoff.
Had my conversation with the gods.
I then took the long, thick strand of shed hair that I'd collected throughout the trip. I'd lined each hair up by the root and tied them together. The wind blew it out in a straight line, and I released it into the void. It swirled and looped in the sky like a ribbon or a dragon playing for at least 20 seconds, hung over the abyss. It was an unexpected and strangely amazing sight against the stormy gray sky. Very visible, too. A black streak looping and playing and swirling around in the same spot, about ten feet out and directly in front of my eyes. Finally, in an instant, it stretched out straight and streamed out of sight.
Hiked down the next day, after leaving Ted and Cathy a note saying goodbye. They were still on the mountain and I wanted to spend my time on the trail, not waiting for them. After some hassle with getting off the mountain (the locals didn't want to taxi just one person down), I begged a ride off a couple of German guys and ended up back in Litochora, 18km away. I caught a bus to Katerini and stayed there for all of ten minutes. Scary town...caught the next bus to Thessaloniki.
Nearing Skala on Mt. Olympos
