Hiking Alone in the Sierra San Cristobal

12:30pm Friday July 15, 2011

Today I decided to go hiking alone in the mountains without a map. It was a great idea.  At ~8am I left my house with rudimentary directions to the best hiking path. I had a half of an avocado, 2 little rolls of bread, and a bottle of water.  After about 20 minutes, I had reached the boondocks. There were a few isolated huts where shepherds and their families seemed to live. I kept on climbing up the mountain. There wasn’t much of a marked path so several times I almost slipped on some loose rocks and that wouldn’t have been fun–rolling down the mountain.  Thankfully I have good balance and never actually fall; I just almost fall and then catch myself.

There were these really large green crosses that clearly showed that these lands were Christian.

I kept climbing, and I passed a lot of cacti and some wild cows.

I also stumbled upon some really old Incan ruins that must have been houses.

Slowly but surely I reached the peak of the mountain. The view was awe-inspiring–seeing an otherwise mediocre city from 1,000 feet above, really puts it in its place. I could better understand its context within the sierra.

I jumped for joy upon reaching the peak.