#hiking

Thursday September 14 – Isalo

Today we would be doing our final nature hike and have our last chance to see lemurs in Isalo National Park.  This area is desert like and very warm and there was an opportunity to see 4 different types of lemur.  The park was close to the hotel but required a few kilometre ride in the bus on a very bumpy road.  Once we got to the park we set out up a hill, spotting some birds, a frog and a large stick insect along the way.   At the top our guide pointed out the two types of tombs, which were caves in the cliffs with the lower cave being the initial “drying cave” and the higher ones up the cliff being the permanent tombs, which required rock climbing skills for the family to place the coffins and bones! We saw a plant called the elephant foot which is a plant endemic to Madagascar.  It has a big bulbous bottom in the shape of an elephant foot with yellow flowers. We hiked up to a viewpoint where we got a good view of the rocks and the canyon.   We also saw a grass snake,  which was super fast, and a scorpion,  which our guide found under a rock.  We carried on to the natural pool,  which was a little blue lagoon and waterfall in the canyon.   There was a family of lemurs beside the pool,  chasing each other around.   Some of the group went for a quick swim while others relaxed in the shade.  We carried on in the heat through the grassland along the edge of the canyon (wondered how many snakes were slithering around in there!).  Finally we descended down the canyon to a campsite area where we had a bbq zebu lunch.  After lunch we walked through the canyon to two more natural pools,  where some of the group did some more swimming.  I was tempted to go in until two lemurs approached with the intention of liberating some bananas from some of our packs.   One was extremely persistent and would not give up even when I had my camera in his face!  His efforts paid off though as he managed to open the zippers of someone’s pack, poke his head in and grab a banana! As we walked back through the canyon we saw a massive spider,  which was apparently still a “baby” in a web alongside the path.   When we got back to the camp we spotted a sifaka, who lived alone.   As we approached it “danced” across the ground and went up a tree,  topping off the visit for everyone! Hiked back to the car after a long hot day out and took a swim in the hotel swimming pool when we got back before dinner.  An amazing day with other closest encounter with the lemurs. 

Tuesday September 12 – Ranomafana

This morning we headed to Ranomafana Park for a walk where we saw golden bamboo lemur,  the red fronted brown lemur,  leaf chameleon,  and another type of lemur. This park was definitely more crowded than our previous stops so it was difficult to get great photos.  We had a free afternoon to relax so I tried to update some blogs and relax by the river.  Before dinner we went on a night walk,  again along the side of the road where we saw a mouse lemur and some chameleons as well as a frog.  For dinner I had the spring rolls, which were more like the Vietnamese salad rolls and the roasted chicken.   Another early night as we would be getting up early for  another long drive to Isalo.

Friday September 8 – Grand Tsingy 

Woke up early this morning to prepare for our hike in the Grand Tsingy.  The frog family “checked out” around 5:30 am as I was finishing getting ready.  Had breakfast and then got in our jeeps for the bumpy ride of an hour and a half or so to the park.  The roads are very bumpy and the drive is slow but it appeared that they were doing some roadwork to repair damaged sections of the road.  We arrived at the parking lot and prepared for the morning’s hike.  The preparations included putting on harnesses for the climbing amongst the “tsingy”, which are the main feature of the park and which are limestone pinnacles that have been eroded into sharp and jagged edges. The weather was hot and it was good that we were doing the hike in the morning.  We climbed up the rocks using ladders,  stones and cables and made it to a viewing platform where you could see along the tops of the rocks.  The viewing platform was small so we didn’t linger up there too long as we had to let more people go up.   I went up another platform in a different area which was completely deserted as no one else from our group went up to it.   We then descended into a gorge amongst the rocks for our lunch, which involved crawling through some small tunnels in the rocks.  We had our packed lunches in the gorge.  Mine consisted of some rabbit pate, olives and crackers plus a squished donut for dessert.   The rabbit pate was actually pretty good despite the fact that it looked and smelled like cat food! After lunch we carried on,  hiking down and out of the tsingy and to the forest and savannah areas and then back to our jeeps.   The temperature was heating up so it was nice to get back to the air conditioned jeep.  We then drove back to the hotel over the slow and bumpy road.  We had some free time before dinner so I relaxed by the pool before dinner.  Another tiring day so fell asleep pretty quickly. 

Went on my second backcountry camping trip to Garibaldi Provincial Park this past weekend – this time to Elfin Lakes. We were fortunate that the smoke had cleared off the other week so the views were unobstructed.  Left a bit later than pl anned but the traffic was pretty quiet so we made good time to Squamish.  Made the turn off at the Canadian Tire and headed up the gravel road to the parking lot.  Shortly before the lot there was a ranger checking to ensure campers had permits.  Was a bit of a wait but we had no issues since we had the appropriate permit and were prepared.  Got to the parking lot and it was pretty full but, fortunately, there was a space for us at the end.

Took advantage of the toilet at the parking lot and got our gear together.  Headed up the trail to the Red Heather Hut, which was about 5 km from the parking lot.

The trail was consistently uphill but a much gentler slope than the Garibaldi Lake trail.  The hike up to the Red Heather Hut went by faster than expected.   Arrived at the red Heather Hut and went inside to make lunch. The hut is fairly small and has two tables, a wood-burning stove and a sink to drain dirty water. I made some beef and mushroom noodles on the jetboil for lunch. Was a bit of a hassle as I had to unpack most of my bag but luckily the Hut was fairly quiet when we arrived.

After lunch we packed up our bags and headed back onto the trail. The next part of the trail split into two – one path for hikers and one path for cyclists. This was only a short one km section before the paths rejoined. We carried on gradually heading uphill until we were at the top of a ridge. We walked along the ridge for a short bit with views of the mountains all around and then the trail began to descend.

Thought we were a bit further away but when we came around a corner we saw the two Elfin Lakes, about a kilometre sooner than we expected.

There were some dark clouds but and they ended up being non-threatening and soon dissipated. We headed down the hill towards the lake, the first one being for swimming, where there were a couple of rafts and a number people enjoying the cool water. The second leak which was slightly smaller is reserved for drinking and is right beside the camp. This campsite, unlike the one at Taylor Meadows, is quite open with a number of tent pads overlooking the mountains and descending down a  small hill. The views were really quite spectacular and we were excited to set up our tents. There appeared to be a number of day hikers sunning themselves and having lunch on the various tent pads so it took us a few minutes to actually find some tent pads that were free.

 Managed to set up the tent up relatively easy but ended up putting the fly on backwards and had to redo it. Didn’t have an issue finding enough rocks to hold my tent down as the tent pad I had chosen seemed to have half the rocks in the campsite including a number of very large rocks. Once the tent was set up and secured the clouds pretty much vanished and it was a nice sunny afternoon with it almost near blue sky. Enjoyed some vodka lemonade on the tent pad while sunning ourselves and enjoying the view. Unlike Taylor Meadows, the bugs didn’t seem to be very present here and it was actually quite enjoyable just lying on the tent pad.

After a few hours of relaxing in the sun we decided to head to the dinner hut to make dinner. Made some pasta primavera and we had hot dogs roasted over the jetboil, which surprisingly turned out very well. Had some red wine, which I probably didn’t need given the Vodka lemonades I had earlier. For dessert, we had a chocolate mudslide dessert topped off for some Bailey’s, again which was probably not necessary given the vodka and wine. Felt fine though so lapped up the Bailey’s topped dessert. After a leisurely dinner it was time to head to bed and I suspected that I should sleep pretty well considering the hike and the amount of alcohol I had consumed.

 Managed to sleep very well through the night and it was actually considerably warmer than it was at Taylor Meadows – not sure if that was the alcohol or the actual temperature outside! Slept in pretty late and was feeling a little bit hungover but managed to get up and get ready for breakfast. Wasn’t that hungry though and didn’t really enjoy the egg and bacon scramble that I bought – definitely preferred the other egg mix and the oatmeal. Didn’t end up eating much of the eggs but had a piece of toast for some peanut butter which seem to fill me up.

After breakfast we started to disassemble our tents and pack everything up to prepare for the hike back to the car. The weather seemed slightly more cloudy than it was yesterday afternoon but I suspect that it would probably clear up later in the day. Manage to fit everything in my bag and actually noticed a little bit of extra room this time. We headed back, this time with an uphill start until we reach the Ridge and then it was to be all downhill afterwards. Took us a little while to get back into the hike and the first few hills seem to be very challenging. Once we warmed up though it wasn’t too bad in the uphill areas were broken up with sections of flat.

The hike on the way back seem to go quicker than on the way in and in no time, we reached the Red Heather Hut. Stop for only a short lunch and had a sandwich and then headed back down the last stretch to the car. This downhill was definitely much easier than the Garibaldi Lake stretch and was actually enjoyable. Although my feet did start to get slightly tired by the end it was definitely a lot better than the last hike, partly due to me wearing the thicker hiking boots. Got to the car changed our shoes and headed out after another great overnight trip to Garibaldi Provincial Park!