La campana II

Yesterday I went back to Parque Nacional La campana to climb La campana itself. Last time, I'd climbed La campanita, a less-known peak, with Mariah and Francisco. Yesterday though I went for the well-known hike with Mariah, Carla, and Kristin. It wasn't very far, but there was a ton of elevation gain--about 6,000 feet! Charles Darwin hiked La campana in 1834 and supposedly wrote about it in his Voyage of the Beatle...I think that would be really interesting to read about. Anyways, it was absolutely grueling at the end, and we had to stop to rest and drink water about every 20 minutes. I'd assumed that the landscape would be similar to what we'd seen around La campanita, but I was totally wrong. Whereas there we saw strange, deserty, almost other-wordly rock and plants, here it almost looked like we were in the Pacific Northwest. It was lush, green, and foggy, with lots of ferns, mosses, and waterfalls. I felt really good and not too tired during the hike, and even today I dont' feel too sore, though I do have some blisters. Walking over rough, irregular rocks for that long leaves your feet battered!


We left the ranger station around 9. It was a cool, foggy, drippy morning, so socked in that we weren't sure we'd have any view at all at the top.


After going by some lush little waterfalls and climbing steadily for a few hours, we stopped for water and snacks at this abandoned mine.


We finally get above the layer of fog! Another resting point...


At the top! I like these pictures of me, but find them frustrating at the same time. I felt so wonderful, exhausted, proud, excited, overwhelmed by how beautiful it was. But this doesn't really show in the pictures I have, where I'm just sweaty, tired, slumpy old Julia. Sometimes pictures, no matter how good, just don't capture your memory quite right.




On top of the world! Mariah and I pose for a picture with the Andes in the background.