Mountain Madness
We made another, (unsuccessful), attempt at pawning Sergio off with the group returning to Song Pan before we went our separate ways. The only way it could have worked is if someone from the other group had wanted to join us. Due to time constrictions it just wasn’t workable. Parting is such sweet sorrow? For Sergio his lingering illnesses seemed to return almost immediately. So much so that Not Dicky and Dicky even noticed and teased him about it. Man, those guys were great.
We had spent the night near a road and after trekking back down it about 30 minutes we were pleased to be turning North and heading back into the trails. Yeah, we are such cowboys. It was pretty much a logging type road with a few creeks to cross that required us to dismount. Not really an easy task considering all of the gear we were seated upon. It was better than potentially taking a dump in the creek as the horses had to scamper across uneven log bridges. We were joined for a short time by a Tibetan that was wearing a blue cowboy hat with the Chicago Bulls logo on the front. We parted company with him as we turned East and headed up a hill into a valley that had no clear path but offered an incredible rocky mountain peak as the destination. It was quite majestic and looked straight out of Lord of the Rings. We were pretty excited at the prospect of scaling it.
The trail quickly dissipated and before long we were taking a few steps before waiting while Dicky and Not Dicky took turns hacking a path with a machete. At times we simply followed the creek. We had resumed the ‘trail’ and been able to go a bit when we again had to stop. Evan’s horse, he was in the third position, made a clean stop but apparently under the weight of Jon and Newton’s First Law, Jon’s steed failed to come to an immediate stop. Instead, Evan’s horse took two test steps over the gently sloping brush filled edge before deciding to take off down the hill. The tallest among us, Evan was able to make a quick dismount as he watched in disbelief. Not Dicky was up front hacking brush so Dicky began the descent to retrieve the horse. He didn’t seem to concerned and we pretty quickly came to the conclusion that the horse was one of Not Dicky’s.
We eventually came to a small clearing with a fence and a cabin. Except for the fact that it was fire charred it looked like something straight out of Grizzly Adams, (that link is worth it if only for the song!). Since we couldn’t stay there we continued the increasingly difficult hike up the mountain. We had stopped riding quite some time ago. Actually, Jon was afraid his pony may have been suicidally inspired by Evan’s and he had dismounted right then.
Very near the where the rocky cragged peaks met the mountain we came to another camp. Just in time as it began to hail followed by a steady rain. We huddled inside the cabin doing the now familar Smoky Seat Shuffle. It never seems to rain long and before too long Evan, Jon and I decided to venture our way up the mountain. Sergio, of course, didn’t feel well and decided to stay back.
The camp was at or near 4000 meters so as we began our way up we often stopped to, um, evaluate the path or catch our breath. Of course, being so close to the mountain, every time we thought there was just one more peak another would emerge. Eventually, we bagan to feel light headed and I was getting a headache.
This is when it happened. Altitude sickness is certainly one potential cause. I looked across the vast valley at the mountains in the distance. Such a beautiful sight. I decided to strip. Yeah. That is what Evan and Jon thought as well. I explained to them that I would stand facing away and they would take a picture of me ‘taking in’ the majestic scenery. I convinced them to man the camera and a few pictures were taken. I then convinced Jon to get a few pictures. Evan, of course, was not be left out.
It took us over an hour to get as far as we went. Going down only took about twenty minutes. Something about gravity but we couldn’t think that hard.
The rest of the evening was spent chillin’ in the cabin. We played cards for a while before Evan stuck it to Sergio while playing chess. Evan is quite the good chess player and rarely loses. It seems he did lose one to Sergio but that also gets filed under ‘altitude sickness’.
Having had enough of Sergio’s epic case of hypochondriasis we were resolved to return the next day to Song Pan to let him return to Chengdu, stay the night and still get our fifth day by going on a one day trek for the final day. We reasoned that it would give us a shower, a good nights sleep but we’d still get all five days. We are so hardcore. That and we could shed the weight. I meant the gear but, yeah, Sergio as well.
Ironically, I had my best nights sleep.
