Hello all,
I awoke bright and early, 6am, packed up my bag with a first aid kit (including water purifcation tablets), spare change of clothes, some warm clothes cause it can get cold, my bin bag/waterproof bag cover and other essentials. Stopped off at a cafeteria for a typical, big breakfast of beans, eggs, tortillas, cheese and coffee that I figured would see me through most of the day. I was bringing musli, powdered milk and bananas for lunch. This was only going to be a one day hike.
7km to the national park but the walk out throught the village and into farmland was quite pleasant. Still, I was very happy to try hitching and be picked up by a school bus. A Christian organisation have set up a school next to the park and miles from where anyone lives. Nice place for a school but still a little odd.
I register and buy my entrance ticket and then it’s just hiking, hiking, hiking. The trail that I have chosen (there are only 3) is very clearly marked. Initially it crosses a couple of rivers, then you head straight up through the forest. I’d picked a mirador for a waterfall, figuring that the inevidable cloud cover would make the other trails with views off the moutain (2000m high) pointless. Some of it was quite steep, but I made good time. It should only take 2 1/2 hours to get there and I made it easily.
The viewpoint was a little disappointing because you are still quite far from the waterfall and there was a lot of tree cover. I found another trail, still marked, that led up and away from the viewpoint and thought that there might be a better viewpoint up there. So I started to climb. The trail was not as obvious as before but there were still the plastic ribbons tied on trees every now and then so I kept going.
After 40mins or so I’m starting to wonder if this is reallly leading anywhere. According to my map I shouldn’t need to go so high but now I often have to scrabble, pulling myself up with trees and branches to keep going. The trail still seemed clear and I found a couple of places where packets of crisps, coke cans or a 2l 7-up bottle had been used to mark the trail.
I could no longer hear the waterfall and the dense coverage made me nervous. This was more like Indiana Jones territory. I finally hit a point where I decided to go no further. I should go back. I could not see a trail onward at all. Finding the 7-up bottle, I followed a piece of wood I’d used to point the way in which I’d come but after a few minutes, I felt uncomfortably like I was not on the trail. Nor could I find any of the marker ribbons. A rush of nerves overtook me and I quickly made my way back to the 7-up bottle and the last marker ribbon I had found.
I tried again but I still couldn’t find a trail.
When I registered at the park entrance, the lady told me the most important thing was NOT to bathe in the river as it is used for drinking water downstream. “No”, I thought to myself “the most important thing is not to lose the trail”. People have died up here and never been found because they lost the trail.
I had lost the trail.