Despite our best efforts, we still got grey weather in Albania. However, we caught a fantastic weather window to take a river cruise and go for a hike! Along the way, we found fine dining and natural warm springs.
Albanian canyons and fine dining
Montenegro
After landing in Sarajevo, we set off for Montenegro, retracing our path through the beautiful Bosnian countryside. (This time with a well-traveled English hitchhiker for company!) As we crossed into Montenegro, the river valley transformed into a stunning canyon with tall limestone cliffs lining the river, and mountains peeking behind. This unreal first impression had us eager to discover what more the country had to offer.
Cerro Tronador
Hiking to Refugio Meiling on Cerro Tronador is typically something that is done in two days, but we only had one. Unwilling to let that stop us, we began our hike at 8:30am, a Patagonia alpine start. We took a photo of the trail map, which stated Refugio Meiling – 18km and felt a mix of excitement and nerves, thinking we would be hiking 24 miles (including a detour we planned to take). The trail began in a beautiful dense forest with big trees. The sun was still making its way up, but we could already tell that it would be a gorgeous day.
Lavender, Hippies, and Blue water
We arrived in the evening to the hippie paradise of El Bolson. First impressions: thereās an artisan market with tons of handcrafted goods, slack lines are set up in the square with a high line across the little pond in the center, people are lounging in the lawn in the shade of the trees. Someone is spinning fire within a drum circle. Half shaved heads, dreadlocks, headscarves and lots of crystals, a hippie town indeed!
In the presence of giants
Two days of near perfect weather welcomed us to the austral paradise of El ChaltƩn. As our bus pulled into the town and we saw Fitz Roy and its neighboring peaks dominating the horizon as the sun set, the energy of the mountains struck us. The beauty of the landscape and excitement about tackling the next climb or trek filled the town, and no matter where we went, we overheard snippets of shared beta, retelling of gorgeous days in the mountains, and in typical Patagonia fashion, rumors of the next weather window.
Hello, Patagonia!
We thought that weād be short on light when we arrived at around 7PM to the airport at El Calafate. However, after taking a bus to town, walking and checking in to our hostel, and going grocery shopping, we still caught the sunset at 10PM! Our time in this beautiful town was short and sweet ā limited basically to our night at the hostel and a visit to the Perito Moreno glacier.
Wedding!
On August 12th, 2017, we agreed to be adventure buddies for life! Wedding day was awesome. Surrounded by friends and family, we said “I do” among the trees near Twin Lakes, and giddily arrived at The Mill (a ski lodge transformed into our reception spot) to celebrate. We ate, drank, and danced under the stars – thrilled to be spending forever together, and also a bit shocked that we managed to pull the wedding off! The days and weeks leading up to the wedding were tough – planning a wedding is no joke! But the hard work was completely worth it, and has helped us to appreciate what wonderful friends we have. Without their help, the wedding wouldn’t have been possible!
Entry to Yosemite Valley
Per the modified plan, this post should have been called “Hike to Little Yosemite Valley”. With a shorter distance to cover (or so we thought), we got a later start, following a footpath in the snow through a beautiful valley. At one point we stopped to listen to a symphony of frogs cheering us on as we hiked.
Cathedral Pass
After an incredible night’s sleep, we awoke in Lyell Canyon ready for a more mellow day of hiking. We began by walking through the lush river valley, stopping often to admire the wildlife and scenery. Eager to see what the trail had in store for us, I took the lead and nearly walked into a deer casually grazing feet from the trail. One of us was startled, and it wasn’t the deer!
Donohue Pass and Lyell Canyon
Day 2 took us over Donohue pass and into the beautiful Lyell canyon
We woke up to gorgeous skies on the second day, and started off to tackle Donohue Pass, our most elevation gain in a single day of the entire hike. The trail (which was more of a series of 50 foot muddy segments split by large patches of snow) began by descending toward a rushing river. After admiring many waterfalls, we reached a water crossing where we encountered a group (pack? school?) of PCT hikers, who splashed right through the cold water rather than finding the dry log bridge.