A Piece of Cake

After completing the first fourth of the hike, which consisted of leftover snow from the previous storm scattered around on the dirt and going through a heavily forested area, I finally made it to a new “biome”. Up until this point, I hadn’t really gained much elevation. Just slowly climbing up. I was now travesering on a slim trail then went right along a big stream-like crater that had been created when the lava was flowing through. Today, snow that is melted creates a flowing stream that can probably be seen later in season. In this area of the trail, I started to see a little bit more of a slope, but still nothing anywhere near what I’m about to see.

Rock walls, aged sedimentation, and slowly creeping above the clouds is what was at the disposal of my eyes as I kept going. Now halfway done heading up and up until this point, what I thought this hike would be, is exactly what it’s been, a piece of cake. But in the distance, I could see snow fields that go on for days, with people slowly moving up them.

Since I’m slow and don’t really know how to use my gear, even though it’s pretty self explanatory, I wore my “crampons” the entire hike. As I was climbing the rocks approaching the snow fields, one of the coils on my right “crampon” got caught and completely ripped off. While in the moment it didn’t bother me, it was definitely something that affected me in the future of this hike.