La Gomera Hike #5: Circular hike around Hermigua
Today was not my best hiking day. This is the first time I can ever remember getting spooked on the trail to the point that I made the decision to turn around. Luckily this days hike was a circular route, and I was not hiking to a new town. I was staying in Hermigua another night at my same lovely inn, the Hotel Rural Ibo Alfaro. Therefore, I listened to my “spidey-senses” that were ringing warnings in my head and I just turned back.
Let me explain…
All morning it had been raining very hard, so much so I was unsure if I would go hiking at all. I didn’t bring any rain gear with me on this trip so hiking the mountains in the pouring rain completely unprepared isn’t the best idea. I was giving it until noon, at which time if it was still raining, I would have called it a day and stayed in town. Given the rains stopped around 11am, before my deadline, I decided I would rally and go for the planned hike.
The start of the hike was a steep uphill for a full hour with some lovely views of the valley and the ocean. I passed this happy, singing frog…very cheerful. Then I read the sign: “el risco de las brujas malvadas” (the cliff of the wicked witches)…I think this was an omen!
VIDEO: View from the highest point I reached today on the portion of the hike that I did. That town down there is Hermigua. From this vantage point, it makes the walk uphill to my hotel look like a piece of cake. Haha. Perspective is everything!!
The frog’s warning still fresh, I came upon an area that scared me a bit, yet I assessed it as doable. I did it. I was feeling a little shaky though and prayed there would be no more of that on this hike!! No such luck. Honestly, everything just kept pointing to this not being my day for hiking. Having completed the first somewhat scary crossing, I came upon an even scarier area. The trail was maybe 8 inches wide and the slope downhill on my left was very steep, very long drop off. The trail was all scree (small rocks and loose dirt) and the path itself slopped downhill as well. AND, to make matters so much worse, the rock face on my right was protruding out farther than the tiny trail I needed to use to squeeze by. I couldn’t see a way to do it, it just didn’t feel right. I couldn’t believe that I wouldn’t try it…yet something in me told me not to.
**I put a red arrow on the pic where I turned around.
***hard to capture in pictures, it doesn’t look as bad here as it did in person.
I once read an article written by a very famous climber of Mt. Everest. He would summit the tallest mountain in the world without any supplemental oxygen. His philosophy for climbing was to never set a goal to summit the mountain, his only goal is to come home safe and sound to his loved ones. That way, he gave himself permission to turn around if need be, even if the summit was in sight. Minutes up there make all the difference in the world.
I listened to my inner guidance and decided to stop and just turn around and go back the way I came. Of course this meant crossing back over the last section again that already scared me. The second time it wasn’t as bad since I’d done it once and it was nothing compared to the one I gave up on. Whew. I literally got to the other side, walked a bit, and then stopped and took a moment to shake off all the pent-up energy from the stress I was feeling. I knew I needed to get my head right. I don’t scare easily so this wasn’t a great feeling. I still had a long steep downhill to do so I needed to shake it off.
I hiked about 10k/6 miles today, made it back into town, and then found a lovely cafe. I ordered a beer, then some wine, cheese, olives and pasta with pesto and sat on a rooftop for 2 hours watching the ocean. I mean, why not?!?
