How the heck did I get here?

from Emily in Slovakia...

Matio, Adio, Paul, and I took off on an insane hiking journey at about 5:30 this morning. Matio’s dad drove us about an hour away to the villige of Zàzrivà where he dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. We started hiking and soon came upon a very small farming village nested in the valley. The sheep and cows all had bells on their necks so you could hear music of the grazing animals. We stopped and asked a farmer (or according to Matio- a cowboy) for directions. The farmer told us to turn left at the red berries.

As the trail got steeper the trees started looking like they came from oompa-loompa land. They were lumpy, and twisty, and looked like something straight out of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. We encountered fields of raspberries, blueberries, and cranberries on the way to our first peak. There were also many dandelions in their poofy stage that were about as big as a softball.

I discovered that Slovaks either are built like mountain goats, or have no idea what a switch back trail is. Either way these mountain trails were straight up, and straight down. No time for lollygagging. We completed all of the summits in the Malà Fatra mountain range in two days; we hiked for 11 hours on the first day, and 8 hours the second day. Beat that Anne Bancroft!

Here are all the summits:
Malŷ Rozutec 4,410 feet
Vel’kŷ Rozutec 5,282 feet
Osnica 4,471 feet
Stoh 5,272 feet
Poludňovŷ grun 5,790 feet
Hromove 5,367 feet
Chleb 5,403 feet
Vel’kŷ Krivan 5,606 feet
Maly Krivan 5,482 feet
Suchy 4,816 feet

Matio has been planning this hike for about four years so it was great to be a part of this adventure! We stayed overnight at a cottage- which is much like a hostel. Most of the way we could see as far as the High Tatras, as well as Martin (where I live) and Žilina.

The majority of my hike I was thinking "how the heck did i get here?" how did i get from being a baby in California to climbing mountains in Slovakia? I didn't come up with an answer- I just let it boggle my mind a little bit.

I can hardly walk now, but I will be ready for another epic adventure soon!

Word of the day: Par míl za menstrom (par meel zah menstrom) It’s a few miles out