Trekking Taz: Day 2; Down

Continued from
Day 2; Up
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“Are we there yet?”

Them.

The sun.

A race.

On the way to Wineglass Bay. On the way to Wineglass Bay. On the way to Wineglass Bay. The young man recited that line over and over to motivate his steps. It worked surprisingly well. Now everything was down. The same rocks, water, grass etc, but down. On a few occasions the young man simply sat on a large rock and slid down like on a slide.

Weee

Except for the parts where he just started sliding out of nowhere

The other side of the mountain wasn’t steep like the first side. Instead it dropped down in a large grassy area making up the Hazards Mountain Range. The travelers continued on and discovered walker’s stones placed by explorers before them to point others in the right direction.

Going up meant rocks

Going down meant slippery mud

The young man, wearing shoes with no grip, did his best to keep from slipping, but with the weight of his pack, the lack of any grip on his shoes, and the slippery rocks and mud, he failed on occasion. He’d fall over and catch himself just in time so as not to do a face plant in the grass, or worse, and push himself right back up to race the sun to the bay.

Down

Down

Down

So…many…tricky steps

Running out of water

They reached the end of the grassy area and once again entered the winding forest. The descended past enormous trees and over tricky rocks to the bay. They reached one point of the trial that was no bigger than a few feet from a wall to the edge where falling meant certain death. Each one of the travelers squeezed through this precarious step pondering the dire consequence of failure.

They continued down

And so did the sun.

But the sun made it down first

No light

No water

Nothing but the steps in front of him could the young man see. All else was shrouded in the pitch black of night. They could not stop for there was no place to pitch tent. There was no choice but to keep moving until they could.

The sound of the ocean was drawing near

No water

The travelers finally reached a body of water on their path. A body of unsavory water, it looked like it was a pond, but the travelers had no choice. There was no guarantee of fresh water at the bay and there was no guarantee they would even make it to the bay either. Reluctantly the young man knelt and filled his bottle with the water in the hopes that he would find better water later at the bay.

They weren’t going to make it to the bay

Instead, immediately next to where they drew the unsavory water, they chanced upon a large area where they could finally pitch tent for the night. Ugh! The young man was disappointed. They weren’t going to make it. Wineglass Bay was still a half hour away. They had to pitch tent here. He’d be stuck with his bad water.

But how could it be?

The water sounds so close!

Perhaps? The travelers investigated a bit further. According to the amount of time they had been traveling, and the amount of time it takes to get to the bay, they still had to travel for another 30 minutes to an hour to get there.

But when they explored just a bit further

To there massive surprise…

There it was

Wineglass Bay

They made it

They were exponentially relieved. The young man hugged his older friend with joy. They made it! They were there! They took off their packs and set up the tent. Ah. The young man went down to the beach to search for fresh water. He saw to his right where the beach ended and the forest began. It made sense. If water was anywhere, it’d probably be there. He walked into the black abyss.

Lo-and-behold a stream

He knelt over to taste

Mmm, indeed fresh

He poured out his bottle onto the ground and went to knelt down, torch in his mouth, to the stream to fill it up with new water. He saw fish dart away from the beam as he filled up the bottle.

That’s better

He returned to his friends. On the way back he could see nothing aside for the white sand before him. All else was black. Nonexistent aside for the roar and crash of the waves. It seemed as if that’s all there was.

Nothing but the cold wind, the foreboding black, and the ferocious roar.

He brought news of his find to his fellow travelers who then went out to benefit from his discovery. He set up his things and dropped four tablets into his water. He’d have to re-hydrate before the fast. His friends returned. They ate, drank, and retired to the tent. The young man sat for a while learning by the light of his torch. It seemed as if a storm was blowing in. He could hear the gusts wind bellowing mightily from out in sea, storming between the two mountains at the bay, and finally raiding their campsite.

Looks like the fast day will be a wet one

Before he went to sleep he whispered a request to G-d that it shouldn’t rain. He closed his eyes without worries, for he knew G-d heard and would decide on his own…

Day 3; Waking Up to the Bay