freaks -n- peAks

Two self-diagnosed obsessive-compulsive introverts occasionally venture out of their comfort zone and into the world. Evidence of this is sometimes recorded here. [All photography original]

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Morocco Collection - Abstract Landscapes

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Moroccan Throwback

Time for a long-overdue correction for this embarassing omission, especially for a blog called freaks and peAks... It is about that one time, three years ago, when we trekked to the highest summit in North Africa, that gentle hill (pictured above) called Jebel Toubkal.

We could have gone practically straight up from the small village of Imlil, and wrapped this little adventure up in two days, but we thought it would be more fun and scenic (and better for acclimatizing quite frankly) to approach it gently from the back valleys.

Ultimately it was on the morning of day five that our guide felt confident (or impatient) enough to lead us on a ‘shortcut’ to the summit, conveniently ignoring the fact that our fellow trekkers didn’t have a head for heights or had been resisting the idea of pooping outside, increasing their comfort on the trail dramatically.

In the end, we all made it to the summit and back, albeit a little later than anticipated (i.e. four hours later than the planned seven). One of the consequences was that lunch and dinner were served within one hour of each other that night. 

Hiker hunger had no trouble with that. 

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“You sure they said water that way?”

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Grand Canyon Collection — Branching Out

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Grand Canyon — Plan B

Given that we had failed to secure proper wilderness permits months ahead of time for the popular Grand Canyon rim-to-rim hike, we had done almost everything else right to ensure we would snatch the walk-in versions instead. Little did we know though, no matter how high on the south rim waiting list you were, the rangers would never give you priority for that first campsite coming from the north (our last), making it virtually impossible to secure the whole thing as walk-ins.

There was no way I was going to give up on making it at least to the bottom of the canyon though. Fifteen years earlier, visting in the middle of winter and ill-prepared for the cold (and in general), I had barely made it below the rim, and vowed not to embarassed myself again next time. So we conceded partial defeat and settled on a three-day hike down to the river and back, using different trails. 

Hey, I’ve seen worse compromises. In my book: embarassement averted.

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Yosemite Collection — Mother Nature’s signature

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Rolling In by blum99 (freaks-n-peaks) Via Flickr: Shortly before a thick fog rolled in and engulfed the already eerie landscape of this remote section of Yosemite National Park. Hetch Hetchy Valley, California.

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Yosemite Challenges — Cold, bogs and fog.

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Yosemite - Hetch Hetchy Valley

It doesn’t take much effort to imagine how this close cousin of the better-known Yosemite Valley would have looked if it hadn’t been flooded almost a hundred years ago by this questionable man-made reservoir. But even John Muir himself, often referred to as the father of the American national parks, couldn’t stop this controversial project from happening despite his unequivocal outrage and the best efforts of his fellow environmentalists at the Sierra Club. As I understand it though, it is a battle they are still (justifiably) waging today.

It is only fitting then—in a very narrow and self-centered way—that this is the location we selected for a three-day backpacking trip designed to provide us with just enough experience in the area to hopefully tackle the official John Muir Trail (JMT) next year. At 45 km or 28 miles, this small taste of the local wilderness pales in comparison with the 339 km of the JMT, but it still gave us plenty of time to pester our guide with every single bear-related question imaginable…

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Alcatraz — A truly warm and welcoming place.

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Iceland Collection — Long Exposure

I had visited Iceland nine years earlier, in 2008, before the country went bust, and certainly before reservations were systematically required to tour the country in summer. I was apprehensive—even hesitant—about going back to a country that’s experiencing such a spectacular and unprecedented boom in tourism. It didn’t take long for those concerns to dissipate though, as one is quickly reminded how it is all made possible: no matter how mainstream it might get, Iceland remains a strikingly unique and photogenic country.   

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Laugavegurinn Trail — Iceland

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Laugavegurinn Trail — Iceland

It’s been exactly one year since we completed this famous 4-day trek in the remote center of Iceland. It’s time to pay tribute to its otherwordly landscape shaped by volcanic activity and notoriously wet conditions. Of course, the oft-repeated claim that Apollo astronauts trained here certainly comes to mind when traversing this challenging land, but if they got to keep their suit on against the elements, it doesn’t even count.

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Black Sand Beach. Vik, Iceland.

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We had heard that the southern part of the GR20 was different than the northern one. We just didn’t expect them to be in different seasons altogether.

After a week spent in an invariably sunny and cloudless heat wave in the north, it merely took two days of brutal high winds to usher in the new season, and with it a sudden drop in temperatures that simply doesn’t go unnoticed when camping at higher altitude.

It didn’t help either that in that part of the island the trees had already started to shed their leaves in response to this year’s prolonged drought (out of desperation or as a form of protest, they didn’t say).

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As we prepare for the more reasonable southern ‘half’ of the GR20 (6 days), it’s time to look back at some of the visual highlights of the rugged northern part (9 days).

Above (clockwise from top left): beautiful laricio pine tree near Asco Stagnu; serene scene from lac de Nino; on the way down from the shoulder of Monte Cinto, the highest mountain in Corsica; camping at refuge de l'Ortu di u Piobbu; the jagged ridge of Punta Muzzella

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How challenging can the GR20 be?

Here’s Erin with a multi-angle demonstration entitled “Stretching the definition of trekking”