We heard a few times that between Mount Moorosi and Qacha’s Nek that we were going to hit a BIG hill. As people would describe it, you would also assume that it is nearly vertical. The day we hit it started off with a massive downhill slope that as steep enough, we decided to run down it. Its mildly entertaining to run by people with full backpacks on, and when they ask where you are going you shout back to them the name of a town still 100km in the distance. We wound around the river at the bottom, and then, there it was. Or,so we thought. It was really just stage one (or as the boys would say, purgatory, level one.) Steep and high, we slowly made our way up. At the top I stopped to take a picture, super excited to figure out how to take a panoramic photo with my camera. In general we were feeling quite accomplished to have ran down a mountain and hike another all before lunch. At the top the road was mostly flat but as we rounded a corner, no more than 30 minutes later, then we saw it. Purgatory, level two. The road continued on through a small village and then up another massive mountain at a slope that seemed to intimidate everything that approached it. Determined to not let it defeat us, we made it to the top and collapsed next to the car before dark. Food never tasted better and my calf muscles yelled at me for the next two days.
Yes, this is Lesotho.
- June 11
- , 2012
