Jurassic Park

So today was the day we were told that we were going on our 7 ½ hour hike in the Blue Mountains.  I’m not sure if we were ready mentally, but it looks like we had no choice! We had to wake up bright and early at 7 o’ clock to get ready and eat breakfast so we would have enough energy to make it through the day. We all met outside our cabins where we had a bus waiting for us as well as an eager teacher ready to brief us on the day. He seemed pretty excited to tell us we were about to go on the longest hike of our weekend, but I think he liked it more because he was able to see all the scared looks on our faces. We soon boarded the bus and took a short 20 minute bus ride where we were dropped off at a lookout that towered over the whole canyon.

  Our teacher encouraged us to get with our cabin groups to discuss who would be the keeper of the map and compass. I wanted to be the keeper of the compass because I was really excited to learn how to use one, but before I knew it we had a show off who took both the compass and the map.  Needless to say I was a little disappointed. Since we were supposed to start our hike at 9:00 and it was already 9:15, we broke up into our groups and waited to see what groups we were paired with for the day. I was hoping I would get Lauren’s group since I heard there would be a lot of romantic waterfalls, but like the day before we were not paired together.  At 9:30 sharp, we started our hike down what Lauren calls ‘Jurassic Park’, but I must admit that it does have quite the resemblance.

Although we were not in the same groups, we did hike the same trails, so we’re going to try and condense our stories into one. In the beginning, we had to cross what used to be a foot path before rock below it crumbled. This left us with crossing a piece of rock that was only about a foot wide and not to mention that it was about 40 feet in the air! It was a little nerve racking knowing that if you make one wrong move you could be seriously injured. We both made it across the path unscaved! We hiked a little longer before our guides call for ‘tea time’ which is apparently what we just call snack time. We weren’t complaining because we were both starting to get hunger and we both knew that it would be a good time to get some water in us. It was nice stopping for snacks because it gave us time to mingle with people outside of our group and hear stories that they wanted to share. Tea time only lasted about 15 minutes before we were hiking again.  Just after starting the hike, my group was asked to get into groups of two and say an embarrassing moment that we have had. A lot of the people said that they didn’t have an embarrassing moment, but I think they were lying and maybe just too embarrassed to say it. I shared the time when I was jumping a fence with my gym shorts on and they snagged on the top of the fence and left me hanging with my feet off the ground. They got a little kick out of that. There were some crazy stories and some I cannot repeat!  Unfortunately, Lauren’s group just hiked which is quite the bummer. Lunch was soon approaching and our stomachs were calling our names. During lunch time, a few kids decided that they wanted to go for a swim and it was more power to ‘em since the water hole was in complete shade! Everyone was pretty relaxed during lunch because most of us were already exhausted even though it was all downhill. As we hiked uphill, we found that we were a bit more challenged, partly because we knew it would almost be like 3 ½ hours of the stair master. We saw plenty of beautiful waterfalls, but there was one in particular. We were still about .3 miles vertically from the top and that is where the waterfall started! It was really pretty seeing water drop from that high in the air.

Since we had to wait for other groups to make it to the same spot before we could move on, we all had a little adventure of our own. There were many rocks that looked like good climbing rocks, so I checked them out! There were a lot of cool rocks, but one led out and looked over the part of the canyon which I thought was pretty cool. As soon as the other groups made it to the waterfall meet up point, we headed off to start our journey up what were pretty much vertical stairs… covered in mud. Everyone was a good sport about it and didn’t complain much since it was their only way out of the Blue Mountains. We all did a little sightseeing as we ventured up the mountain. As we made it to the top, everyone was cheering and hollering while forming a tunnel. I was slightly confused until they told us to run through it. As more groups came the tunnel grew bigger. Lauren’s group finally showed and everyone except Lauren ran through it, not because she didn’t want to, but because she was exhausted and lagging behind a little. But really she had run off to the bathroom before she saw the tunnel. Once she arrived at the top, we all told her that she had to run through the tunnel when the next group came along. When they arrived, she was one of the first ones to run through and I think she liked it! It was nice to see everyone come together and cheer on others even though everyone was tired!

Once everyone was done with the hike we headed back to the  cabins and began to make dinner. Us guys were having spaghetti and garlic bread again while the girls came to our cabin and made unstuffed peppers.  We all had a group dinner and talked until around 8 o’ clock since we had to go back outside for another campfire gathering. Since we had everyone together, we had to make to fire so everyone would be warm as well as have enough fire to roast marshmallows. We were supposed to play campfire games, but since we all looked exhausted, the teacher decided that it would be best if we headed back to our cabins to catch some shut eye. All in all it was a good day J

Finally done with the longest bushwalk to date.