Brandon O'Brien

Friday, July 26, 2013 @ 5:22 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 30

What a day. When I left the hostel in the morning it was absolutely pouring down rain. I waited a few minutes for it to calm down and then made my way down to the bus stop. The plan was to catch the Snowdon Sherpa bus over to Pen-Y-Pass where I'd catch the Pyg Track trail. The Pyg Track would take me over Crig Goch and onto Snowdon.

I got into town (still in the rain) and picked up a sandwich and some fruit for lunch. I wasn't really sure what to do so I said "screw it" and hopped on the bus. I figured I'd head over to the trialhead and at least see if the weather would clear up.

Fortunately I made the right choice. By the time I got there the skies were clearing and I could actually see some peaks in the distance. When I was talking to the employee at the outdoor shop last night he mentioned taking the alternate track up the Crib Goch for some better views and a more intense hike. I didn't know quite what he meant until about 45 minutes into my hike.

The trail I was on basically ended and expected you to climb a few hundred feet up what were essentially vertical cliff faces. Flashbacks of climbing at the gym were flooding back. Make sure your feet are well planted. Lift with your feet. Balance with your hands. The only difference is I hadn't ever had to do that on wet rocks, with a backpack and without rope.

There was a group a few hundred feet ahead of me so I knew it could be done. I chugged along and finally made it to the peak! The next challenge? Hiking a long an extremely narrow ridge with several hundred foot dropoffs on either side. And when I say hiking a long the ridge, I'm using that term loosely. It was more of a straddle/climb/scramble over the ridge for a good mile.

Edmund Hillary used Snowdon as his training ground when preparing for his ascent of Everest. I kinda laughed at that fact yesterday when I read it but after hiking along the crazy ridges and scree fields, it seems like a very good place to do some intense training.

I got to one point where I lost the trail and rather than risk continuing along this relentless ridge I bushwhacked my way down a mile long scree/boulder/creek/sheep shit filled obstacle course until I caught back up with the original Pyg Track. When I started my abandonment of the ridge in favor of living a long life, there were two guys ahead of me that carried on along the ridge (more on that later).

Having my feet planted on solid ground and on an actual trail again, I made good time hiking up to the top. This trail is actually pretty busy and Snowdon is one of the most trafficked mountains in the UK with over 500,000 visitors a year. The views along the hike were absolutely incredible. Unfortunately the peak of Snowdon was in a giant cloudbank when I got there and I couldn't admire any of the views. On a clear day you're supposed to be able to see over 140 miles from the peak including several countries. I got to see fog.

I ate lunch near the summit and the clouds broke a few times so I could take some photos. For my descent I took a path directly back into the town I was staying in. It's a very steady and uneventful path with views that are good, but nothing like the ones from the Pyg Track. I made pretty fast time back into town and decided that my adventures for the day would be better with a few pints. I went to a pub and had a couple and relaxed on the patio for an hour or so.

I came back to the hostel, showered and started uploading photos. I'm going to have some more ravioli for dinner and probably pass out early. I'm also going to check and see if the hostel has availability for tomorrow night as well. I'd like to do a few of the other hikes around here since the scenery is so amazing.

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Tags: daily journal, wales, snowdonia, llanberis,

Posted from: Wales

Thursday, July 26, 2012 @ 7:00 PM in 2012 Epic Motorcycle Ride

We were hoping to sleep in a bit this morning but between crows squawking, the sun blasting into our tents and other people getting up we woke up around 7. We tried to quickly eat and get ready while it was still a little cooler outside.

We set off to see some of the sights in Arches. The first stop was Landscape Arch. We weren't sure how far away it was from the parking spot so we set off with our full gear on (aside from helmets and gloves) and immediately started to regret that decision. Turns out the arch is a 1.6 mile round trip. It was cool to see it though. We made it back to the bikes and set off to see Delicate Arch. Instead of hiking the distance up to it we opted for the lower viewing area where we could see it from a distance.

While there we ran into another biker and his passenger who had a Victoria, BC patch on his riding vest. We got to talking and it sounded like they were doing a really similar loop to ours, as they were just in Albuquerque a few days ago.

Next to the parking lot for the Delicate Arch viewing area we saw an unmaintained road that said 4x4's only and decided we should go and explore it. The trail was a mix of sandy spots and rocky areas. After a mile or so we decided this isn't the kind of riding we were looking for and turned around. It was a little too rough for our bikes, especially mine with relatively smooth tires.

We headed down into Moab to fuel up and find some food and figure out where to ride next. The couple on the motorcycle we ran into at Delicate Arch had mentioned the Blue Pig as a good BBQ place to eat at so we figured we would try that. We got there and found out they were only open for dinner so we ended up at the Moab Grill instead. The service and food were really good. Both of us got Patty Melts on Texas Toast. We took our time drinking as much water and tea as we could before setting out into the extreme heat again and exploring some dirt roads.

We decided our route would be Cotter Mine Road to Blue Hills road and ride that all the way back to 191. When we got onto Cotter Mine Road we immediately started climbing some really steep and rocky hills. We both looked at each other and though… not this again. Things got better after that initial climb though and we had fun riding around. All in all we spent about 2 hours out there riding around. Neither of us dropped our bikes but both of us had some close calls. Ryan almost went over his handle bars when riding pretty quickly through a dip in the road and hit a hole larger than he was expecting. I had some close calls going through some sand. I also started having issues again with my bike overheating. It seems like when this happens it won't idle and instead the engine simply cuts off. It made it pretty annoying trying to navigate some of the trails to get back to 191. I'll have to look into it when I get home to see what the deal is.

We eventually made it back to 191 and then stopped at a Shell station for something cold to drink and to relax in the shade before heading back to our campsite. We talked to the cashier for a bit about some of his journeys on an old BMW and told him about our ride so far. We finished our drinks and set off for the campground. Riding through the park took a lot longer this time because we got stuck behind an RV that simply wouldn't pull over. We were stuck behind them all the way to our campsite.

We got back and doused ourselves with water and are now just relaxing in the shade waiting for it to cool down. All of our booze is extremely hot so we'll probably pass on that tonight and wait until tomorrow night in Aspen where it's supposed to be a lot colder.

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Tags: motorcycle

Posted from: United States