More and more condors circle above us. Large animals with a wingspan of at least one and a half meters. Although we know that the birds are looking for carrion, we can’t help but get the impression that they are just waiting for us to become their prey. Again and again they fly just a few meters above our heads. We start to pack up with a queasy feeling.
The sandstone formations that accompanied us for the first few days on section 12 created an interesting landscape that was not too complicated to hike. As on the previous stages, the landscape changes dramatically from day to day. I find the scale or monkey-tail firs that grow everywhere here particularly amazing.
Nature will remain a big part of my future life. But it can’t just be hiking. I love nature, but I also love civilization, I love contact and interaction with people. I am sociable, nature is not.
However, we were not spared them, as we had to fight our way through the snowfields for miles. The snow had thawed slightly. We kept sinking in a little, but only until the snow had compacted into a hard surface. Our map did not show us a clear path. As before, we were on our own in this section.
The landowner at the start of the third stage wasn’t exactly thrilled to see me. He told me straight away that this was private land and that I had no business here. He had already been annoyed by enough other hikers who had simply walked across his property without asking. That’s why he had put up a gate, which I had deliberately overlooked. I had seen it, even though I had come onto his property from a different direction, but I had decided to ignore it.
