El Cielo Mountain
Travelling solo has never stopped me from doing the things I wanted to do and to set off on a day of hiking by myself was nothing new. I was in Spain, surrounded by beautiful mountains, so it was only natural that I desired to go exploring. With my backpack full of food and water and hike directions printed off from the internet, I set out.
The track wasn’t well marked at all, but after a bit of a detour I found the path leading up to the top of the mountain named ‘Cielo’ (which translates to ‘heaven’ in English). As I climbed higher, the views became even more stunning until at one point I crested a ridge and the coast on the other side of the mountains opened up before me. It made me stop in my tracks and stare in wonder. However, there was still a way to go to reach the top, so I kept on hiking.
I had set off around 9am and had only seen five people since then and it was now early afternoon. So far, I had had a lovely day in the mountains by myself. I kept walking even though I didn’t know how much further I had to go, but was also becoming conscious of the time. I had set 2pm as my turn around time so that I would have enough time to get down off the mountain and back to the bus stop before dark.
Around 1:30pm I passed a couple that were descending and they told me that the top was only about 1km away. So, on I went. As I had climbed higher, the terrain had changed and I was now hiking over loose rocks and scree, no trees or clear path, just sporadic faded blue paint spots marking the track. Hiking in this type of terrain freaks me out a bit as it is so slippery and very easy to lose the track if you don’t pay close attention.
By now my mind was screaming at me to turn around for three reasons:
1. The time – it was now 2pm.
2. The terrain – I didn’t feel confident.
3. The fact that no one knew I was there. When I had pulled my phone out at the beginning of my hike to tell my mum I was going hiking for the day, I had no reception and I hadn’t encountered any patches of reception throughout the day.
But as I was deliberating I saw the top of a silver cross just ahead and above me. I knew this marked the end of the hike and the top of the mountain. The end was now in sight. So, against my better judgment, I pushed on and within ten minutes I reached the summit. To say the views were breath-taking is probably an understatement. I felt so accomplished having reached the top. And I was thankful that despite the grey clouds coming in, it was still clear enough to take in the spectacular views down to the coast.
After soaking in the views for twenty minutes, I started my descent at 2:30pm, making my way from one blue paint mark to the next as I scrambled over the rocks. I thought I was following the track well, but suddenly I couldn’t see any more blue paint marks before or behind me. I didn’t stress too much about this as it looked like I was still on the track and I was sure I would see more paint marks soon. Besides, if I did try to back track to make sure, I thought that could disorient me as no matter what direction I looked in, all I saw was rocks. So, with a prayer, I kept on, following what looked to be the path down.
Soon I encountered a big section of loose small rocks; rocks that slide down the mountain in a cascade when I touched them. To go back would mean potentially getting further off track and ending up stuck at the top with nothing but rocks and grey clouds. But to continue going down meant I had to go through this section of super slippery rocks. I also had the thought that if I slipped here and hurt myself no one would know that I was in trouble and no one would even know to look for me, let alone where to look for me. At this point I began to panic.
I sat down on the ground and prayed. After a few minutes, I felt calmer and could think clearer. I looked beyond the section of loose rocks and saw what looked like a track a little ahead of me, once I got through this section of slippery rocks and over the next ridge. I decided to aim for that and check it out. I’m not even embarrassed to admit that I then proceeded to slide down the mountainside on my bottom for the next few minutes until I made it through the section of loose rocks. Upon reaching the other side and starting off through the scrub that began from this point, I was excited to see a pile of rocks and then another further on. Better still, they were heading in the direction that I wanted to go and looked to be making for what I was hoping was the track.
Once I intersected the track, I turned to my left, towards the coast, and started to head down the mountain relieved that I had made my way back to the path. I reached to my backpack pocket and grabbed my second water bottle, ready for a big drink of water after the stressful situation. But I quickly spat my first mouthful back out as it tasted like dishwashing water. I thought I had rinsed my bottle thoroughly after washing it the night before, but evidently I had left the tiniest bit of soap and after been jiggled in my pack all day, my water was now soapy. I still had a couple of mouthfuls in my first bottle, so I would just have to ration it.
I’d only be walking for about five minutes when doubts began to creep into my mind. Sure, the track was headed in the right direction, but it seemed different from the track I had ascended on. Telling myself that it was unlikely that yet another thing was going wrong in my day, I continued. Another five minutes on and now I was certain – this was a different track.
Cue my second panic attack. Again, I paused and prayed. Once I had calmed down I started to think through my options. Going back was not an option; if I did end up getting stuck out in here for the night, I wanted to be among the trees for shelter. I still had some snacks, soapy water, and I had a warm jacket. But just giving up and setting up camp was not my first option. There was still no phone reception but I was high enough up the mountain to get a good look at the area, so I again looked to the bigger picture.
I was confident of the direction I needed to go, down and towards the coast. This track seemed to at least be heading in the direction I wanted to go and it looked like further on, down in the valley, it came close to or joined a road. I felt like the best option was to continue along this track, even though I had no precise idea where it would lead me.
After some time, the track I was on intersected another track. I actually said aloud in frustration, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” But knowing I needed to keep heading down and towards the coast, I turned to my left and kept going. A little while later, the track came out on the road I had seen from above. Again, I turned left and kept walking, hoping for the best. After walking on the road for about 8oom I came across a familiar sight, the picnic area I had stumbled upon in my little detour when trying to find the track up in the morning. Tears of relief and joy filled my eyes – for the first time in almost three hours I knew where I was and that I was going to be ok. I so badly wanted to sit down and rest, but there was only one hour of daylight left and I still had a 5km walk to the bus stop.
The next morning as I watched the sun rise over the sea I read Psalm 91 which talks about God’s presence with us in times of trouble and it felt extremely real to me. This was exactly what I had experienced the previous day. I had felt God’s calming presence with me in my time of trouble and I believe that He gave me wisdom to safely get off the mountain. No one else in the entire world had known where I was or that I was in trouble. But God did and He helped me. I am confident that no matter what the future holds for me or where I go, I will never be beyond God’s reach or care. I know He will continue to be close to me all the days of my life.
~ Melissa A.
