China: Day 5.
The day we had all been waiting for arrived! Day 5 was the beginning of our trek into the backcountry and for the most part I was stoked! If you read the previous post you will know that the lunch from the day prior provided interesting repercussions. It turns out that some of the yak noodle soup we ate had a mission to destroy our group from the inside! Majority of our group the night of day 4 were so sick the internal debate of staying behind was on the forefront of their minds. Being the tough Canadians we are everyone managed to make it to the trail head ready-or-not to hike the first 8km. Originally we anticipated to hike 16km the first day but this had to be changed due to the overwhelmingly high percent of ill group members. I had the fortune to be in the minority and not be sick so the first day was such a breeze Paul, Colton, and myself decided to blitz up a mountain adjacent to our campsite.
Before I knew it my energy was depleted about two thirds up, forcing me to stop since there wasn't a trail and a lot of loose rock. Paul and Colton hastily continued upwards as some omniscient clouds approached. Meanwhile, I laid on a surprisingly comfortable rock slide and after waiting a few minutes the reality of getting rain, on the once sunny day, seemed inevitable. I didn't want to get my camera wet so I decided ditch my post and start scurrying down in an attempt to get to the shelter of my tent. Moments after, rain, snow, and sleet began pummelling me just before I reached a little bit of tree cover. I wouldn't be telling the full story if I didn't mention that jumping from moss covered rock to moss covered rock and frequently slipping, almost losing my camera or twisting my ankles, wasn't somewhat frightening. Eventually I got to an opening where i was able to observe the storm off into the distance and take the time to catch my breath has well as capture one of my favourite black and white images on the trip! The photo before the image I am talking about it a view of our camp way beneath where I had climbed.
I arrived back at my tent and tried to dry off as much as I could but aside from being cold and wet my stomach now started feeling peculiar. Thinking this was likely because I was merely hungry from the long day I ate a significant amount of pasta that night assuming that would solve the problem. I will leave you with saying it was the longest, most uncomfortable, agonizing, and utterly dreadful night of my life.
