Oh, hey Zeus

The climb up Mt. Olympus was amazing, and so beautiful. However, it has been a little hard to walk the past two days. I’ve never been on a hike with such breathtaking views. (I think it may have been above a 10 on the Katahdin scale as far as the difficulty) My pictures just don’t do it justice, but you can find the whole album here.

Looking back on the hiking itself, the first day was much worse than the second day when I was expecting it to be the other way around. It was probably because we started off really fast with the excitement and energy we had for the trip. The trail was pretty steep the whole way and wasn’t just a slope but large steps up all the time. It was the steps that really got you tired fast. We stopped occasionally to rest and catch our breath but we still made it up to the lodge in 2 hrs 15 minutes. When we started getting close, I was with Jamie and a few others, and we started hearing these bells. We had just heard from another hiker that we were only a short distance away so we assumed that it was the group in front of us ringing a bell to mark that they had reached the lodge. We got really excited till we realized that was not it at all. It was just mules that were making their way down! We moved off to the side, laughing, and let them pass. After continuing up the path another few meters we ran into a 4^th mule that was off to the side munching on some grass, as soon as we came around the corner it jumped up and started charging down the path causing all of us to quickly jump out of the way. Definitely kept us on our toes!

The lodge we stayed at was a lot nicer than I had expected with the way our guides had been talking about it. It was a lot of fun too because after we got there at like 3 or so we had the whole day to just relax and hang out. At night we all got into the room around 8 and played some name games and just talked for a few hours. Sunday morning we work up bright and early (6am) and got ready to leave for the top. We were up for the sunrise which was amazing, watching it peak over the mountains. After breakfast we gathered our things, smaller packs since we would be coming back to the lodge before going back down to the bus. We hiked up for another 45 minutes or so before stopping and breaking off into groups. The pace was much better because a guide was leading the way and keeping the pace slow. It was pretty much straight up and we were soon above the tree line where it was just us and the rocks. With such a large group it meant that we would go a few steps and then slow then pick up again and then slow etc. Not to mention there was some slipping since most everyone had only sneakers on.

We broke off into two groups, where some people went on an easier trail to a plateau where there is another refuge and beautiful views, while the rest of us went in the direction of Skala peak. I wasn’t one of the 9 to make it to the highest peek Mytikas (2,918 meters) because it was a more technical climb with ropes and harnesses so about 2-3 people could go with each guide. I was one of the 32 to make it to the second highest peek, Skolio (2,912 meters) only 6 meters lower than the top. We’re still calling it the top; we had the same view as them and could see the peek from where we were. There isn’t a Zeus statue or monument at the top (as some had expected) but we certainly felt the presence of the gods. Ok, not really, but we did thank them for letting us get to the top! We even got to write our names in a book to document that we made it. It was decent weather, changing quickly from sun to clouds and back again. We attempted to wait for the group that went to Mytikas before heading back to the lodge but it got to be too cold so we started the descent.

After a lunch back at the lodge we started the rest of the way down, making it in about the same time it took us to go up. Finally back on the bus, we slept the whole way home and got ready for classes Monday. All in all a very good weekend and an amazing experience.

In other news, it has now been a whole month since I left home! Amazing how the time flies. I’m still enjoying myself and I have much more to look forward to, including coming home again :)

On the way up.

Sunrise at the lodge.

Me at the top, with Mytikas behind me.