It has to be. I want to document the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.
Now, Laird loves to tease me about my histrionics. (For what it's worth, he's the least histrionic person I know. He has to be. His company teaches wilderness medicine and wilderness survival skills. And, yes, it's nice to have my own personal GeoMedic.....but I digress...)
But I am not being histrionic when I say is was the hardest thing...it truly was.
So...back to the trek. When I received a notice from Crystal Serenity's AMAZING Shore Excursion department that The "Tavurvur Hot Springs and Volcano Site" shore excursion was reclassified from "moderate" to "strenuous" adventure, I said to myself, "Self...duly noted." I've taken Crystal's strenuous shore exs in the past--so I knew what I was in for. I've pushed myself--and come back hot and sweaty and exhausted.... so-challenge accepted.
Or so I thought.
Don'tcha love it when the gods have a laugh at your expense?
"I know what I'm in for"....
Riiiiight.
Sooo, the first thing that happens after we load up and head out of port is the van in front of ours loses a wheel.
Note, I did NOT say "has a flat tire"- I said "loses a wheel". The ENTIRE wheel.
But one standby vehicle arrival later, and the convoy was off again.
Our minivans transported us over some roads that make Louisiana highways look like NASCAR superspeedways. (Note to Crystal- having a chiropractor aboard alongside the acupuncture doc would be a good thing...)
We arrived here...
The base of the volcano. Remember the Shore Excursion Department rated this adventure as "Strenous"? There's always that ONE person...
Or in this case, two...
(The lady in the sundress, hat and aqua bag? The one with full face makeup and bejeweled to an inch of her life and wearing high heeled flipflops? Well, they got to the crest of the hill and were told to turn around.....)
And, as Jackie Gleason used to say... Away we GO!
Our guides looked us over then briefed us... and actually encouraged some of our merry band of about 30 to give the whole trek a re-think. Oh, and gave a firm "NO WAY" to our dressed-for-garden-party cruisers.
Single file down and up and down and up...
The hot springs that have been formed by superheated water bubbling up to the surface near the sea.
This stuff comes out of the ground at boiling temperature. The guides say when they picnic here, they just plop those uncooked potatoes straight into the water. They come out perfectly seasoned.
I think I might prefer seasoned salt to whatever is coming up through those rocks.
The last "big" eruption (didn't want to ask about "little" eruptions) was in 2014. The pumice was extremely light...
And extremely DEEP.
This, I would learn later, is what makes coming DOWN so difficult. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Again, I was wondering what sort of "stuff" (gee, I love using scientific terms) was floating on the surface of some of the pools as we got closer to the volcano. But it sure was PRETTY...
(another favorite scientific term)...
Now pretty much at the base of Tarvurvur. The guides led us in asking permission of the volcano to climb aboard her shoulders. I wish I had written down the actual name we invoked, but I was already thinking what the hell am I doing here focusing on the hill above me.
And noticing a tiny white speck.
People?? People up THAT high? We are climbing up THAT high?
(Oh, the hysterical laughter wouldn't occur for another hour)...
If I had asked the question and learned we were going ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP... would I have? Glad I didn't ask...
The lava flows were quite beautiful in their stark, lava-y way.
I always love seeing how nature finds a way...even in what seems the most inhospitable environs.
And up we began.
The view was magnificent, to say the least.
And I was quite happy to see how far we had come (red circle)....and...um...pointing out how far away home seemed. (yellow arrow).
Thank heavens for small breaks.
And it gets more vertical.
No, there's not even a goat path. That's why we had so many guides. 16 in all, I think. They figured out the route for us.
I wish I had further photos of the trek up. I really do. But it was about this point that I went from what the hell am I doing here "Ok, this is a workout" -straight past go and do not collect $100- to "Oh, f%#k, I am gonna die..."
Thoughts I remember...
Kicking my toes into the loose soil, crampon-style, searching for firm footing like I read about in all those "climbing Mt. Everest books" I am so fond of reading...
Always maintain three points of contact while climbing (see, being an armchair mountaineer has finally paid off)...
Trainer Eric's voice saying "You got this" as I say "I really hate you" when he makes me do that THIRD set of walking squats...
Counting 10 steps. Myself thinking "Just take ten more steps, Elizabeth."
Laird telling me about the time he climbed Mt. Rainer and realized 100 yards from the summit that he had to turn around. That even though he might reach the summit, he might endanger others if he had trouble coming down...(Yep, I almost used that one as an excuse to stop)
Trainer Eric's voice saying "You got this". Again.
And again.
Over and over.
"10 more steps. Just take 10 more steps."
And Laird telling me "Honey, you are more capable that you can even imagine"...
Like I told Laird and my kiddos later, it was sheer will that got me that last 15 minutes. Totally surreal and unlike anything I've ever experienced before. Almost out-of-body, numb to any feeling and so focused on that one step ahead of me and nothing else .
And DAMN, if it wasn't worth it.
My "Sherpa" Mike.
He got me up the volcano...and more importantly, back DOWN!
I had no idea until later that some folks were worried about me. They saw my beet-red face and sweat and were sure I was about to have a heart attack.
(Note to self... before any future exertion amongst strangers--let them know I "sweat with my head" as I've heard it called. I can walk a mile on a cool autumn day, and I look like I've been in the sun for 5 hours and stood under a shower. It's just the way this body works. Always has. )
Oh...yeah... What Goes Up Must Come Down.
Now, these guys do this nearly every day. THEY can do it in flipflops. Or barefoot.
Most of us, me included, did not bring out hiking boots with us. The thought of bringing them along on a jaunt through the South Pacific just didn't even occur to me. I was in my trainers shoes I workout in. Which was okay going up....but going DOWN? Quite a different feeling.
The view was SPECTACULAR, wasn't it?
Until you realize.. where you are heading back to... (red circle)
and What's heading your direction... (yellow arrow)
Complete with the rumble of thunder.
And all I can think of is that I am wearing a stainless steel Apple Watch lightning rod on my arm.
(I was still thinking about esoteric things like that- the descent really hadn't begun yet.)
This is the last photo I took going down. I was wise enough to put the camera away before I needed to start catching myself on rocks. You can see Serenity's concierge, Marco with the Crystal Adventures backpack.
But take a look at a close up of his legs. The strain shows as we began to (pretty much) side step down the volcano.
Fellow trekker and fabulous knitting teacher onboard Susan shared these photos with me....
See that top group there?
See the arrows? That's yours truly, slowly traversing down the volcano.
At one point my left foot gave way, which hit the right foot of the guy in FRONT of me, and both of us went down on our bums. Which is not a good feeling when you see nothing below you but a bunch of lava piles and very large pumice rocks.
But we made it down. In one piece. Scratched up forearm, pulled oblique muscle and I would not BEGIN to describe the bruises on my posterior..... but we made it down...
Before the rain made a total mudslide of us all.
And thanks to my trusty lightning rod Apple Watch, I climbed the equivalent of 52 flights of stairs.
I offer my profound thanks to Tarvurvur for teaching me a life lesson I will never forget.
I AM capable of more than I can imagine....
Posts
1 comment:
WAOW! My Captain's hat for you!
That is one strenuous climb, and you DID IT!
Post a Comment