Today’s adventure was to hike Mount Snowdon, the
second highest mountain in the UK and an adventure it was. The weather forecast
was not in favor for those who wanted to take on the challenge. The group woke
up early today and made our way to the bottom of the mountain, before we even
got there it started to rain. Since it did not look like the sun was going to
come out, only a group of nine started the journey in 30 degree weather. Eric
led Amber, Elizabeth, Ariana,
Molly, Olivia, Callie, Brett, and I up a slow slope at first around a lake. We
booked through the first part optimistic that the rain and wind would let up.
After walking up slopes, the terrain turned into a steep path of rocks. While
on the hike up we could see water flowing down the mountain, but that was about
all we could see because of the rain and fog. We could not even see the top of
the mountain because of all of the fog.
About an hour into the trip up our
spirits were lifted by a couple of experienced hikers who told us at the top it
was sunny with pina colada’s were awaiting for us. With this incentive we kept
trucking up the mountain even though we were cold and wet, and some put on some
very fashionable ponchos to protect them from the rain. After a couple of steep
walks up paths of rocks, we then had to climb and make our way up piles of
rocks. This was about two-thirds of the way up and when the rain and wind
really picked up and it was pretty much miserable hiking conditions. We would
hike up parts of the mountain and then not be able to see where we were due to
the fog and rain. Even though we were about 40 minutes from the top, we turned
around due to the awful weather conditions. At this point we were all soaked
completely and bummed we didn’t make it to the top, but we knew we needed to.
Since we did not make it to the top we had to go down the slippery rocks we
just hiked up, instead of an easier path going from the top. After making our
way back down we talked to another hiker who was also heading back down, he
told us even the mountain guides were turning around to get off the mountain,
at this point we knew we made the right decision to turn back. With helping
each other we made our way down the very slippery rocks. We could not wait to
get back to the lodge to warm up. After a four hour round trip we did make our
way back to the lodge. Due to being on the mountain we could not reach our
coach driver to pick us early so we shivered in the lodge with dripping wet
clothes for about an half an hour. Hot coco and tea helped warm us up, until
the coach arrived. Overall everyone was glad we hiked as long as we could, even
though the weather was miserable. It will be an experience none of us will ever
forget!
We then headed to Llandudno to meet with the rest of the
group who was exploring the town for the day, they said the town has cute
places to shop and eat. After warming up and taking a quick nap from all the
activities during the day, we got ready and headed out on the town. We headed
toward the beach and walked out on the dock to get a better view of the rocks
and the offshore wind farm. After taking in some beautiful scenery we headed to an old opera house turned into a restaurant for some
great food. Once full and happy we headed back to our bed and breakfast for
good group bonding. There’s nothing better than relaxing and reminiscing about
the day and the adventures we had.
Nicole
