Mordor, as Treacherous as They Say

Just got back to my uncle's and I couldn't be happier to be here for full recuperation. Now my Mordor Saga..

Three other gal pals from Harmony met up in National Park to complete the 3 day tramp of the Tongariro Crossing aka where Mt Doom is. We were all so excited and yea a little bit nervous.

Day 1: The first day was all up hill with plenty of people passing me up. The one day tramp is insanely popular and a huge tourist attraction. But the weather was beautiful, we sang happy birthday to an Argentinian, made it to the top and continued on. I am so pleased to have gone with such great girls that everything was fun even with all the sweat! Highlight of that day: sliding down this avalanche of rocks. And falling down the avalanche of rocks. Thrice.

When it was time to get to our hut it was plain stupid. The path went left, right, left, right, when we should have been able to head straight down to the visible hut. Obviously I was grumpy/hungry/annoyed with the park people who created the down disaster. After 30 minutes we made it to cook our dinner in the dark. When we were all ready for bed this couple stumbles in wanting to make a reservation.. uhhh yea they walked here in the dark without a flashlight. They had passed the point where they were supposed to exist the track and kept on. All they had with them was a bottle of rum and some noodles. These kids were smart..

Day 2: Beautiful weather again! and even better news- all down hill! Or so I thought. After about 2 hours my left knee was hurting something horrible. Let it be known I have never had any problems with it. It was so bad I had to stop several times. But thankfully it was only went it was downhill which after a while it stopped being. We made it to this lovely river and Fangorn Forest. We all entered at different times, I was obviously last because at this time it was near the end of the day and my knee was now a consistent throb. Walking uphill was now painful. But the forest was peaceful and green. Then we realized Annie was no where to be found. She was always at the front because of her crazy walking pace and leadership tendancies. We yelled/whisteled for a while and then decided she was most likely waiting for us somewhere at the top like normal. But then we remembered that once we crossed the bridge it sort of looked like you could head left/right as well as straight which the arrow pointed to. We conferred with the picture we took of the map. Oh what silly girls we were, the hut we were staying at that night was before the forest! Oh ok. But poor me walking downhill was honestly the last thing I wanted to do. Cursing myself for not thinking to bring actual whistles, I slowly made my descent. Once almost out of the woods I hear "Saryah! Stop! There is no hut, turn around". I'll admit it. I threw down my pack and fell to the forest floor.  I wanted to cry. And be left there. I would have stayed if they would have left me.  Again I slowly made my way to the top. Where Annie was indeed waiting. Let's me clear. In the beginning we were 3/4 of the way to the top before we went all the way back down again. Talk about mixed signals, it would of course happen in Fangorn Forest. Where were the Ents when you needed a helping hand? Annie was amazing though and took my pack as well as her's for the remaining way. I really would not have made it without them. The hut was only 30 minutes away and it was magnificant. It was 8x bigger than the one previously. With running water and electricity! I took off my boots, wanting to shake out all the rocks, but there weren't any. Just blisters. Everywhere. The funny thing about it was no matter how horrible I felt the views at the end always made up for it. I would look behind and think "wow. I just did that". That night we pulled off our little mattresses from the bunk beds and put them and our sleeping bags in front of the fire to fall asleep.

Day 3:  We knew it was going to rain. But we slept in until 7 because my alarm/phone died in the night. it was to be a 5 hour walk to the village and had been told it was mostly flat terrain. We started off and it was what we expected, rain, cold, windy. The girls were always far ahead of me because I was too slow, limping along like quasimoto. Oddly enough, I knew I could do this. I knew I could/would accomplish it, that it was flat, and the weather could be worse. Physically I thought I was going to die. But in times like these it's more mental than anything. How could I forget to mention that Vera, one of the girls, was having knee problems as well.. However she was at the front today. Knowing she had pain but was such a champ about it, leading the group was such an inspiration. Annie was offering to carry my pack again, which was too nice of her. But the pack was the lightest it had been as we had eaten much of the food it had contained so it wasn't a problem. Bethany the entire time was singing. Singing people. In the crazy weather she was happy and singing the whole way. These girls were my hero's. We made it to the end in less than 4 and 1/2 hours. Champions.

I have never been more proud of myself or the girls. Turns out Bethany's singing was because if she stopped her thoughts turned negative about not being able to finish. Annie was prepared to literally carry one of us to the end. Vera never once complained. And I managed to stay positive the whole last day, knowing we could do it.