Day 17: The second trial
We went from the easy and smooth desert to a purely Alpine trail: granitic rocks, huge pine and fir trees killed by fires and uprooted by the wind, tortuous ascents on exposed trail sections. Snow started to appear in several sections once a certain altitude was exceeded (I think we were above 2100 meters).
It was a challenging day for me: I almost panicked when I lost the trail. A strong west wind was blowing, I was on an exposed point, and the trail made a sharp turn to the left but I couldn't find where. Once I found it, I lost it again shortly after because the many fallen trees that made it difficult to find the trail among several half-beaten paths through the low vegetation. I screamed, I cursed at everything and at the three people who hadn't waited for me, even though they knew about my knee problem and the obvious difficulty of this stretch of the trail. I was afraid of not being able to find a decent tent spot, I was afraid that sunset would come and I would not have found a safe place to eat and sleep. I felt (again) insignificant, so small that Nature – let me abuse this vague term – could have crushed me in an instant. However, it didn't, it gave me the opportunity to regain control of myself, to look at the map on my phone and find my way back to the trail.
Now I'm here, in the tent with a bottle of hot water between my feet, at an altitude of 2520 meters, praying I don't know who or what for the wind not to rise too much. The temperature should drop a lot (around 3 degrees Celsius), but the effect of the wind at this altitude will make it feel a subzero temperature. This was by far the most difficult day of all, from every point of view. I hope to be able to sleep well enough and without suffering too much from the cold.
