I will walk 500 miles.....

So, I didn't quite walk 500 miles (but don't tell that to my knees, they will disagree), but Andy and I did walk 22 miles on Saturday while ascending and descending over one mile!

Some of you know that my boyfriend has studied in Switzerland the past year. He was going to return to the states this week, so I decided to utilize my German/Swiss/Austria rail pass to go visit him. So I took a 7 and a half hour train ride from Marburg to Martigny, riding on 4 different types of trains (double decker German Inter Region, really fast InterCity Express, Swiss InterCity, and Swiss Inter Region) and hearing about 10 different languages in route. I arrived on Friday night to Andy in a tie-died t-shirt ready to take me to dinner and discuss our hike the next morning. I knew that this weekend was his last in Switzerland so I let him pick out the hike for the next day, which was a great (and not so smart idea). He picked out a hike that he was certain I wouldn't complete (great boyfriend). He was so convinced that I would make him turn around, that he only looked up the train schedule for our departure point and not the bus schedule for our return point (which became a problem later).

Anyways, we set off at 9am towards the St. Bernard Pass...and start climbing...and climbing...and climbing...then walking uphill...then climbing again. Eventually we reach a lake...and I realize that one hour into the hike, I've developed hot spots (never a good sign). I bandage up my heels, tighten up my laces...and proceed onward. I convince Andy to take a chair lift up the alps to this mountain (and to give my legs a break). We get some amazing views of the valley that holds Andy's village. (Pictures to follow soon). Then we hiked downhill some 300 feet to begin our path towards some pass...

We take our time, relishing the amazing Swiss countryside and breathtaking views (I really want to insert pictures here but they aren't available yet). But picture heaven...but drier and with snow and alpine flowers and you may be close. We make it up to what we think is the top of the pass and take the time to scale what we think is a big rock. It turns out...we weren't even a third of the way up the pass. Less than 30 minutes later, what we thought was a large rock...was barely visible from the 500 meters we had climbed. It took us 5 hours to reach the top of this pass..and in order to get there, we had to clamber over bolders the size of my parent's van and snow packed so tightly it was blue. We reach the "top" of the pass around 3pm and decide that we want lunch, so we scale around 300 boulders to the mid point of a peak to find some bolders arranged like a couch, where we sit down to dine on our high fiber bread and water (cuz somebody forgot to buy peanut butter and jelly at the store). While we dine, we partake of an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING view of a mile long glacier and snow-capped mountains. Behind our "couch" we saw the green, alpine flower filled valley from whence we came.

Thinking that the worst of the hike was over, we take our time with lunch and snap some cool photos before heading down the mountain. It turns out that the bolder and snow infested side was the "easy side". The trail on the other side consisted of a series of steep dirt trails where numerous hikers had already dislodged most of the footholds that we so desperately desired. The steep trail jack-knifed across the "sunny side" of the mountain (which meant we turned into giant lobsters) yet still dropped 1000 feet in under 2 hours!!! I feel once, but thankfully I fell backwards into soft dirt instead of forwards into the rocks. After about two hours...Andy kept saying...I think we're near the end , I think we're almost there. After about 5 times, I didn't believe him anymore. My knees and feet were screaming in pain but I knew that the only way to relieve them was to hike the rest of the day.

Which I'm glad we did hike, because about 2/3rds of the way down (while the trail merged with a small stream, testing the waterproofness of my boots), we came across a large herd of sheep grazing in the mountains. Andy was able to find one before it became bored and found its own grass.

Eventually we made it to the end of the pass, were we hiked the trail that Andy had taken Jenny, Bryce, Jon, and Chris on (yeah I finally got to see the glacier that everyone talked about). And then we walked to the bus stop, only to find out that we missed the last bus by 15 minutes (this is where Someone forgot to check the bus schedule before we left). With no real option but to walk back, Andy and I filled up our water bottles and started on the two hour downhill trek back to Martigny. Poor Andy had to deal with a lot of complaints and near tears as every step in my boots caused exruciating pain. My knees were so sore from walking down the mountain that at the end, I could only shuffle down the valley path. Even now, two days later, I can't walk downstairs with out cringing in pain, causing my labmates to speculate that I fell down the mountain instead of climbed down. (I only fell once). However, around 9:15pm, 12 hours after we set out, we finally arrived at Andy's apartment building. Too tired to walk much further, we willed our legs to the restaurant in front of his building and enjoyed some food (I was soooo hungry that I almost finished an entire pizza). Then we hobbled back to Andy's apartment where I bandaged up the enormous blisters on my feet. (picture not to follow due to the sensitivities of people reading this blog). I was so tired that I apparently fell asleep mid sentence.

Anyways....so that's the story of the 500 mile hike through the swiss alps. I'm really glad that Andy and I could hike to such a beautiful place and I'm extremely glad that I lived to tell the tale. Andy said that it was the longest time he had hiked since arriving in Switzerland and he was impressed that I could keep up (at least until the last 3 hours). I'm still healing and I still can't walk down stairs without cringing in pain and shoes are rather painful to wear no matter how many pairs of socks I put one..but I have some amazing memories and some great pictures that I hope to share sometime soon...once Andy figures out the problem with his camera.

Stay tuned for updates about my train ride home......otherwise known as the top 10 reasons to NEVER take an italian night train.