Hiking buddies

Hannah from my Portland yoga class arrived yesterday. I was very much looking forward to her visit, looking forward to have a hiking buddy for a few days. I had planned out the whole week, one good hike after another, an interesting variety of hikes, but forgot to take the weather into account. It is very unstable, has been like this for the whole last week, showers every day - it takes a certain amount of courage to take off. I never know if the rain will last 5 minutes or the rest of the day, and given the altitude, as soon as the sun goes away, the temperature drops substantially. All this to say, that Hannah and I will have to play it one day at the time, because it's just impossible to predict how tomorrow - or the next hour - will be like.
Today's hike had a great effort vs reward ratio - i.e. great rewards for little effort. A couple of times we had to take shelter to wait out a shower, but then the sun would come back out and the air was so clear, the light so beautiful, pure, translucent, clear... I remembered that the light in the Engadin indeed has the reputation for being... special, unique, and therefore so much appreciated by artists. Although we are now in high (or medium?) season, we were pretty much alone on the trail. The iffy weather probably had a lot to do with it. We hiked up to the high country through the woods peppered with wildflowers, had great views down to the Sils Lake and the mountains and waterfalls across the valley. The first rhododendrons are opening up (much smaller than the Oregon rhodies). Several kinds of orchids and wild clematis are now in bloom.

I had done this hike for the first time just last Thursday - with the... seniors! Opportunities for group hikes are scant. There's the Club Alpin Suisse, like the Mazamas on steroids (that's for my Oregon friends) - meaning all their outings are too extreme for me. And there's Pro Senectute (latin for "for the old") - which is the group I went with. The meeting point was in Sils Maria, at the stop of the postal bus. As I got off the bus, some 15 women came towards me, hands stretched out to greet and welcome me. It was overwhelming. Yes, we walked relatively slowly, no, the hike wasn't very long, but it was a hike I had never done before, and the ladies ( and 2 men) were kind, open, upbeat, energetic, interesting. They know every nook and cranny of the valley, the names of the flowers and where the best beaches are (no kidding!) - I had a great day with them. Best of all, at the end we all went for coffee together, then I rode back on the bus with a couple of them, and the next day I met one in Zuoz and we had a great chat. On the same day as the senior hike I went on an evening hike with the ladies from the evening gym club. Obviously the hikes are more popular than floor exercises in the gym, because we were a whole crowd, walking in the evening light among fields full of flowers to the next town where we had dinner, and then back to the cars with the last light before dark.





Other odds and ends of the week:
- the snow is melting very rapidly and the Inn is flooding here and there. The creeks are scary torrents - I am picking my hikes very carefully, making sure there are bridges.
- I got a hair cut - the worst ever in my life, and that's how I'll have to go to NY to Eric's performance!
- I voted. I still haven't figured out the 8 parties, nor who stands for what and it took me over an hour to fill out the 7 ballots! There are some advantages to only 2 parties and only 2 election days a year. This already was my 2nd election since my arrival.

Looking ahead: Hannah is here for the whole week. On Saturday I am off to a major challenge: hike to a hut with some other folks from Zuoz, all strangers, to check on the town's far off boundaries. Don't ask me - I don't know anything more - check my blog next week!

Pictures:
1. Clouds trailing mid-mountain in Zuoz
2. Sils Lake from Val Fedoz hike
3. Yet to be identified orchid
4. Fields full of flowers, near Zuoz
5. Wild clematis

(Sorry for the misalignment!)