Day 2: From Colomers to Saboredo

21. December 2006 The Pyrenees, Spain, Videos 0

After hiking in the rain to Colomers, the sun was out in full force our second day. We felt well-rested even though we slept packed like sardines on bunk beds. The hike was exhausting because there were plenty of rocks we had to cross, but we made it to Saboredo without any problems.

Video diary, day 2: Waking up in Colomers

Trouble began after Saboredo: we took a different path and walked for hours following yellow marks on the trail. (Later, we learned that the yellow marks were for the entire national park, and not for the trail we were supposed to follow.) When we finally reached a small town, we knew we were in the wrong place because we have gotten used to hiking without seeing anyone, or anything, except for rocks, trees and lakes. When it started drizzling, I knocked on the first house we saw to ask for help. With the Dr.’s little command of Spanish, he told the guy our story. Where are you guys from?, he asked us in English. We were surprised he spoke English in these parts. When we told him that we were from New York, he smiled and told us he was raised in Long Island.

Video diary, day 2: Passing through Refugi de Saboredo

I am still flabbergasted when I recall this story. We had no clue where we were, and someone, someone up there, was watching us to help us get back on track. It turned out that we hiked up north to the ski town of Salardu, far, far away from our stop of the night at Amitges. He called the refuge and told them we weren’t going to make it–a search party is dispatched if someone with a reservation via the Carros de Foc office in Vielha doesn’t show up in any of the refuges. He bought us beers at the local pub while we waited for a cab that took us to the nearest town of Espot.

Video diary, day 2: Getting lost on the way to Amitges, ending up at Espot

It was disheartening to get lost on our second day, and the Dr. completely gave up when we talked about our options during dinner. We were a day late and we knew it was going to be more difficult to finish the trek in less than seven days. It was only in the morning that he expressed continuing on after talking to the park rangers who directed us to take a 4×4 to Amitges, get our stamp and rush to Mallafre, and then hike through the forest to Josep M Blanc, where they were expecting us for our third night.