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Lorelei Wall

@lsw19

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Day 3. Alcantara River Valley —> Castiglione —> Villa Neri. Aqueducts. And gorges. And cities in the sky. Headed to the eastern part of the island as we inches closer to Mt Etna. Stopped at the avocado and olive farm of Boccadifuoco, where we walked along the river in the aqueduct channels used for irrigation and, I’m assuming, some sort of rejuvenation (a moving cold water plunge for the legs). We then checked out the Alcantara River gorges, which were formed through basalt lava rocks (or something close like that) before a delicious lunch of local treats (so much food but all so good). The next adventure was to work our way through the valley and up up up to Castiglione. The city was pretty much closed down for the season, but gave some great views. Loving the Sicilian countryside! by @lsw19

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5 days ago

Day 2. Madonie National Park —> Castelbueno —> Liccia Hermitage. Up,up, up today. Started out by a very fancy recycling spot on the side of the road to meet Mario, a local farmer who has taken on the old time art of manna extraction. Showed us how he’s growing the farm thru grafting - after a trek up the hill to his farm - then extracted some manna for us (v simple but v cool) and gave us a taste (sweet with a hint of a bitter aftertaste). We then hiked up to the town of Castelbueno (beautiful castle) for a fabulous pasta launch. Rounded out the day with a 1.5 hr hike up v steep hills into a gorgeous forest with some overlooks over the valley (showing us how far we’d walked). Rewarded ourselves with some beer and a dip in the ocean. Then we’re off to make our own pizza for dinner - no pics bc hands were covered in flour/dough. Totally worth the work all around. by @lsw19

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7 days ago

Travel Day / Day 1. —> COS —> Palermo —> Cefalu. Amuninni!!! Enjoyed a beer after a long day of travel and made some friends with the wait staff with some help from Google translate . Spent the next morning tooling around Palermo - surprisingly busy for a Sunday morning. Lots of very old buildings and some delicious coffee. Then met the Backroads group and hopped on the bus to Cefalu. Had lunch in the city then walked up the Rocca di Cefalù for some awesome views of the town. Good food and good wine to round the night off :) by @lsw19

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7 days ago

It’s over a year late but figure I should document my most recent hiking adventure with some of my favorite people. Now on to the next! taken in Dolomites, Italian Alps by @lsw19

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9 days ago

Been a while so figured I’d post from my birthday hike. GOG never gets old for me. taken in Garden of the Gods by @lsw19

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2 years ago

Day 12 (yep, delayed): Las Torres (15 mi). Last day of trekking - round trip up the Las Torres aka a The Towers. It’s a long day with 2K+ in elevation gain, which I kinda loved. It was a steeper climb than the pass and you don’t know what you’re gonna see till you finally stop climbing, round a corner and see the towers over an impossibly turquoise lake. We sat, had some lunch and took it all in. We left right as the clouds weee rolling in and didn’t know we were lucky to get the clear views we did till later. A perfect final stop and fitting end for our trek. Ended the day with a fabulous dinner, some crossword puzzles and overall good times with the group. We wrapped the evening with another excellent sunset. I know I keep saying it - and am annoyed with myself for it - but this place really is awesome. I’m so sad we have to leave it. taken in Torres Del Paine, Patagonia, Chile by @lsw19

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3 years ago

Day 11 (delayed - as you know if you’ve been following): Cuernos —> Torres Del Paine Base Camp (9 mi). Back to base :) A shorter, transitional day as we completed our circuit and returned to Eco Camp. The views were still amazing - it’s all so different and just doesn’t get old here - and I think we all enjoyed a more leisurely walk than days past. Getting back to Exo Camp meant beds and a private bath for me and Michelle - not mad at it but we also kinda missed the camping camaraderie; 100% could’ve kept doing it. Dinner was delicious and fun and bittersweet as we prepped for our final day. The icing on top was the most amazing sunset over Las Cuernos. I actually missed the best of it because I was in bed and very happily asleep by 8p…so thank Michelle for the photos :) taken in Torres Del Paine, Patagonia, Chile by @lsw19

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3 years ago

Day 10 (delayed for all the reasons): Paine Grande —> Cuernos (9 mi). Welp, we were due for a bad weather day and we got one. A very steady rain all day coupled with fog made for a wet, not-quite-cold-but-cold-because-you’re-wet day. It also meant we didn’t go up into the French Valley - between Grande Paine (biggest mountain in the area) and Cuernos (aka The Horns - cool looking dual-colored jagged mtns of white granite pushed up volcanic earth). No reason to hike up 2k to see nothing. So, we got some cool views of the mountains , skipped some rocks along a lake and learned about the various levels of waterproofness of gear (Noelle wins for reduce, Michelle for looks - loved the blue poncho over the backpack). The highlights: a pizza (so good! And we were all a bit over the chicken-or-beef option) as an appetizer and, since the rain cleared, a trip down to the lake’s beach for the sunset. So much fun and so much to take in with truly fabulous people - it was a perfect moment. taken in Torres Del Paine, Patagonia, Chile by @lsw19

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3 years ago

Day 9 (delayed): Lake Grey —> Paine Grande (9 mi). Another “short” day. We laid out final eyes on the glacier and headed toward the mountains thru beautiful, “Chilean flat” territory. The most striking and sad part of this day was it was all thru land that was burned by a wildfire (9k acres). I mean, I love me a craggly tree but a bit less so if it’s because some idiot wanted to burn some toilet paper when camping illegally. I actually loved the walk so can only imagine how gorgeous it was before the fire. Other highlights - a mirador/lookout with some fabulous wind and peeks l at our future hikes - Paine Grande and Cuernos. The camp is part of the “W” trek, which the majority of folks do, so it felt a bit crowded and rowdy coming off the relative isolation of the Circuit (like a ski lodge). Thankfully we had an excellent camping area, a bit away from the crowd, with spectacular backdrops and always good company. taken in Torres Del Paine, Patagonia, Chile by @lsw19

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3 years ago

Day 8 (delayed for many reasons, most my fault): Los Perros —> Lake Grey via John Gardner Pass (15 mi). Long day but absolutely amazing. Our guide called it Day 1 and Day 2. Day 1 - going thru the John Gardner Pass and walking along (well, above) the Grey Glacier. It wasn’t too bad of a climb and that first look at the glacier as you come over the edge is insane - I just said “oh, wow” and our guide, Javier, responded “I know, right?” with a huge smile. Seems it doesn’t get old no matter how many times you do it. In addition to some very strong winds (which was kinda fun) we were treated to a full rainbow over the glacier. We had lots of laughs, an almost lost glove, many exclamations of “holy sh*t, this is awesome.” (Note: I’m stealing some photos from others for this because my sad iPhone SE just didn’t suffice; and even these can’t capture how huge and colorful and expansive the glacier is. 100% worth seeing). Day 2: a very steep decent down to Lake Grey with peeks of the glacier thru the trees and/or behind us. Most focus was on not falling as we got down but still cool to look down and back see the edge of the glacier - and all of the crevices. That said, it was a long day and we were all very happy to get to camp and get a warm shower…and a beer. taken in Torres Del Paine, Patagonia, Chile by @lsw19

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3 years ago

Day 7 (delayed, because Patagonia + procrastination + forgotten phone in NC) Dickson —> Los Perros (7 mi). This was a light/recovery day through the forest. I was so tired and my feet so sore (no blisters, thankfully) that it felt harder than the day before. The last 3 miles were brutal, so, all in all, not my favorites day. Got some good views of the mountains, a few glaciers and lakes though (also it’s Patagonia and gorgeous so good here is relative). Also loving the group - awesome folks all around. by @lsw19

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3 years ago

Day 6: (delayed): Torres del Paines base camp —> Dickson Valley (20 mi). Long, long, long, long day of walking. You know you’re getting tired when you get excited about a sign, which was a sign about a bush. And that was ok because it meant we were near something. Turns out the camp was a mere 8 miles after that. The walk was lovely though and gave us all lots of time to get to know one another (loving everyone; no red flags or Debbie Downers yet, which may mean I’m the overly-intense/debbie downer of the group). Most of the day was along Lake Paine which is a cloudy blue turquoise color (Paine means “bluish” in the indigenous language) and made for some very nice views. For the last 1/3 we had gorgeous mountains to the left and the Dickson glacier (my first glacier!) to the right. We definitely slowed ourselves down stopping to take pictures and lots of bathroom breaks (an “observation” our guide shared the next day), but, hey, you gotta break up the walking somehow. Once we finally made it to camp (I’ve never been so happy to see a camp!), the views, some good food and a hot shower made it all ok. The mosquitoes though… by @lsw19

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3 years ago