I think today has been my overall favorite day so far. I woke up at 5:45 am went for my usual run then we left for school at 7:15 to arrive by 7:45. We were departing for El Cajas National Park. It was about thirty minutes out of the city and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I was basing all my judgments from Google images, but I was excited. We started our day with a smaller hike, about a mile around a little lake with the Andes surrounding it. It was very pretty. This hike was pretty flat and easy. It was hard to believe we were 10,000 some feet above sea level. Just to give you an idea of how high that is… the highest point in South Dakota (Harney Peak) is 7,242 feet. The elevation in Sioux Falls is 1,470 feet, just to put this into perspective… we were high.
After we made a loop around the little lake we were onto our next challenge of about a four-mile hike up and down and around the Andes Mountains. The elevation ranged from 9,000 to 13,000 feet above sea level. I was a little nervous about the elevation, but hoping our bodies had adjusted from the first days hike. It definitely had. I found this hike to be much less strenuous than the first one. It could be also that I have been running here, which is probably good for my breathing at higher elevations. Don’t get me wrong the hike was still exhausting. I’m not quite sure even where to begin because anything I describe in here will do no justice as to how beautiful this place is. Even the pictures I posted give a much less beautiful appearance. This hike was the most peaceful, scenic hike I have ever done. Even with all the slips and trips over the rocks and through the mud. My group even hiked through this forest where we had to climb over, under and around trees that were everywhere. I felt like I was in a scene from a movie. This whole experience did not seem real.
After about two hours of hiking we took a lunch break on this rock that overlooked lakes and the mountains. I wouldn’t mind eating lunch there everyday. It was so peaceful. There were no other people around and there was so much yet so little to look at. I don’t know what else I can say other than to go see for yourself. This blog post once again does not do El Cajas justice. I’m pretty exhausted from today. It was a very long, but awesome day! Hard to believe I will be on my home in a week from tomorrow.
