"My best weekend yet"

This past weekend was easily the most enjoyable I've had here abroad. Eight friends and I took a train to the Blue Mountains, about a 2-hour ride from Sydney. We arrived in Katoomba, a small, peaceful town in the heart of the mountains, around 10:30 on Saturday morning, and I was ready to hit the bush.

The Blue Mountains are nothing like those I hike in every year in New Hampshire. You don't start at the bottom of the mountain and hike up. Instead, the towns are at the peaks of the mountains, so you usually hike down and then make your way back up. That is what we did.

After getting settled in the YHA hostel - easily the nicest hostel I've stayed at here, and still cheap, at $27.50 a night - we trekked through a residential neighbourhood to get to the trail. The first couple hours of the hike we followed a ridge trail, which wove around the top of the valley, offering splendid views of the cliffs opposite us and the trees and waterfalls in the valley. The only negative about this part of the walk was the amount of tourists who clogged the trail. Since it stayed on top of the cliffs, we were fairly close to the road, so people could simply park their cars and walk a hundred yards to one of the several lookouts. It's safe to say we saw hundreds of people with sandals on, mothers with strollers, and men dressed in their workday business suits.

Also, the trail intersected with a huge visitor information centre, replete with a gift shop and food stand. I never really felt, during this part of the journey, like I was in the bush. It felt more like - and I'm only imagining here - visiting the top of the Grand Canyon.

But things got better... much better. As the day grew old, some of the crew decided to head back, but Steve, Andrew, Kristina and I pushed on, determined to reach the Golden Steps - a very steep ascent back up to the road. After surviving Tourist Central, we had descended a great deal, thus putting us down in the valley. With the sun reaching its peak in the sky, we bushwalked over rocks and under trees - which made it very dark - until we reached the base of the stairs. One thing about hiking in the Blue Mountains is that you have to keep an eye on the path ahead - and this is not just because of the possibility of wildlife. Trails often aren't marked that well. There are no cairns like in the White Mountains. There are a few intermittent chalked arrows on rocks, but that is about it. At one point we lost the trail, but after retracing our steps, we easily found it again.

And then we climbed the steps. Steep, steep, steep. That's the best way to describe them. Man-made - some out of rock, and some out of metal - the steps twisted upward, at times affording us brilliant views of the farther and farther away valley, which gave us an excuse to rest.

We were tired, heaving, out of gorp (or at least I though at the time - I ended up having another whole bag), and it was close to dark.

But then, all of a sudden, after just 23 minutes, we reached the top. The sign had said an hour, but we killed those stairs. We ended up having at least a half hour until darkness, so we decided to chill out on a perfect rock facing the fading sun towatch the sun set. Only, it didn't. It got lost among the clouds. That was the only real disappointment of the day.

But it was only half of my Blue Mountains adventure.

Yesterday, not everyone was as energetic as the day before. Four guys went off to play golf. Steve hit up a caves tour. The girls went in search of kangaroos. But I? Well, I was ready for some more bushwalking. So I hopped on a train down to Wentworth Falls, two stops toward Sydney from Katoomba. And in the span of six hours, I had the time of my life.

After about a 25-minute walk to the national park, I hit the trails - all of them. Similar to Saturday, I started on a ridge trail with great views of the valley and waterfalls below. Then I made my way down to the Valley of the Waters, where I hiked right alongside a long chain of waterfalls. At the first waterfall, I watched as three people climbed down the fall by using rope into a small pool that was oh so tempting. I would have jumped in, but the sun wasn't out and it was early in my journey. Oh, and the water was freezing (colder than at the potholes).

After a brief snack (cheese and crackers, baby!) I headed down to the Wentworth Pass, which took me to the other side of the canyon and beautiful Wentworth Falls. We had visited a couple waterfalls on the first day - including one that was directly above a cliff that dropped off several hundred feet - but Wentworth Falls was the paragon of waterfalls. It must have been 300 feet tall, with the water falling in the air for about 200 feet before hitting rock and moving gracefully down the final 100 feet into a pool at the base. Also, there was a sandy beach. A sandy beach in the mountains! I couldn't believe it. The water here was also freezing, but I told myself I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn’t swim in one waterfall, so I waded in and stood around the stream of water for 10 seconds. Refreshing is the best word to describe that.

I also received a visit from a friend while I was at the falls. I was lying on a rock, reading my book, when a rather large lizard slid up ever so slyly behind me. It had no cruel intentions, but it still took me by surprise. I took a couple pictures of it and decided to sit up while I finished the chapter I was reading.

Finally I decided I ought to leave the falls. An interesting fact: I was without a watch on this trip, so I often had to gauge what time it was or ask somebody. On Day 2 I didn't run into many people - definitely a good thing, except that I often had no real idea what time it was. After departing the falls, I travelled up an extremely steep set of stairs to the National Pass. The stairs must have been 80 degrees, no joke. I had to lean forward, with my hands gripping the railings to make it up them. At the top, a sign noted what I had already realized: "Experienced Hikers Only." Good thing I've done some hiking.

The National Pass was an interesting path. Most of the way, it was directly below an overhanging cliff, occasionally making me duck. Also, most of it was transparently man-made. Rocks laid out acted as stepping stones, making for a nice and easy hike. At the end of the National Pass, I reconnected with the Valley of Waters. I then hiked the one trail in the area that was left on my list: the Nature Trail. The NT took me up, way above the valley, eventually to the road, but not before I passed some beautiful rock lookouts (not man-made whatsoever) and a pool where, from behind some rocks, I could tell some skinny-dipping was in full-swing. It was a nice, sometimes arduous end to my climbing adventure.

So there you have it, my hiking experience in the Blue Mountains. Once I return home, I'll be sure to share pictures of it. Again, it is completely different from hiking in New Hampshire - and not as difficult - but it was enjoyable and worthwhile all the same.

And the views... well you'll just have to see for yourself.