It wasn't summertime. That was mistake number one. It was the beginning of springtime, and it was still very cold high above the mountains and even in rural areas, and rural areas were where we were headed. Over the internet, I had learn about a two-day trail, from the village of Masouleh to another village called Masal, and had seen pictures of stunning beauty. I was determined to go, to run above the clouds and to look at beautiful flowers along the way.
But I rushed it:
I talked to two of my buddies, Saeed and Farid, and in the holidays of the new year we headed for adventure.
In rural areas of Gilan, in the early morning,
full of fog, NOT a good sign!
When we arrived it was still dark, the sun hadn't come up yet, and we had some time to kill, for breakfast, and meeting another important character of the story:
Introducing: Fredrick the Great!
Fredrick was a dog we met at the witching hour in Masouleh, and he was to stay with us for the following day and night, keeping our company in the most dangerous situations. He was called - rightly so - Fredrick the Great, by Farid (the Berserk) because he said that this dog really resembled Fredrick. We took Farid by his word.
We played with Fredrick, went around the ghost city of Masouleh, jumping about on people's rooftops, and eating breakfast in what it seemed like was a stranded post-apocalyptic cafe.
Soon, the sun would come.
Contrary to what it seems like, I'm pretty sure
that we're not peeing!
We took a last glance at the city and its houses, and headed for the trail.
We said our goodbyes when we watched the sunrise and its dancing lights
On the trail, lots of things would happen to us, but it was such a lovely morning that we never thought anything out of the picture would happen. The cool morning breeze promised of a beautiful and peaceful day to come.
This is not pouring rain, but rather this picture was taken behind a waterfall.
Early on the trail, a nearly perfect rainbow appeared!
But on the trail, we were actually really tired. The steep of the hills we passed would use up all the energy in our body too soon. We would sit and rest too many times, because the backpacks felt heavy and our feet without energy.
Fredrick the Great with his girl he met on the road, Jenny the Bitch.
Newly bloomed flowers in the early spring
Saeed being Saeed
It has been, to this day, one of the hardest trail I have done (though technically, haven't done).
At this point, we were exhausted, and the morale of our little group was down. We needed a break. And break was given. We had reached the top of a dreamy hill: we were now above the clouds and facing a frozen summit, with flowers blooming around.
Look at Fredrick and Jenny, sharing a young doggy love!
This was where we had breakfast, and this is where we should have stayed and camped, because, as the next pages of the trail revealed we were in for real trouble.
Three dogs.
But we didn't stay. We continued on the trail on a steep mountain slope and we didn't care for the world. And that was the second mistake. After an hour (or two) of hiking tremendously, we stopped for the lunch. The lunch was quick and hurried and the place that we had lunch was windy in an unpleasant way. It didn't feel like fun, but it was okay. We were in company of good friends, and that's what matters, right? Right.
We resumed. We saw a mommy boar with baby boars wandering about, it was amazing how Saeed could spot them from such a long distance, but we were uphill and they were downhill so we could see their movement from afar.
After some time of doubting (and most probably losing) the track, we came across some local mountain guards (if that's a real thing) and we told them how we planned to go to Masal. They weren't very excited about our plan and convinced us not to go, since it would be too cold for us there and we didn't have proper equipment for staying so high in the early spring. They were absolutely right. And in disappointment, we listened to their advice and to go downhill from a trail they showed us. And down we went.
We continued lowering our altitude for about 2 hours (I believe initially when we met the locals, we were at 2000m above sea level) and we decided to camp along the way beside a very beautiful waterfall. That was mistake number three.
Campsite number one.
We camped there and decided to refresh ourselves by the water and the beautiful scenery. And then, we decided to take a nap, a fucking nap, at just hours before the sundown in a place where we knew was not a place to spend the night. The locals had warned us about wolves and bears, and had told us storied about foreigners coming to this place who've been torn apart by wolves, and bears and other kind of animals. They actually gave us some advice on how to run away from bears, so we knew that this shit was real. But you know what? We decided to fucking sleep, man. And you what, we slept, for three fucking hours. Needless to say when we woke up, everything looked like this;
We woke up to see our dog curled up beside the waterfall in the dense fog...
It was then when the real adventure began...
In the pathless woods.
(and no, I did not find this picture on Google, this shit is real!)
We were kilometers away from the city in a wild forest with the dying sunlight. I expected the sun to go down in a few minutes. We had to get going ASAP. We packed our backpacks and started walking back to the city. We were in full darkness in a few minutes.
"You think darkness is your ally?"
The next few hours, until we reached the city, will remain with us, I guess, till the rest of our lives as history. It was a great moment for our little trio friendship and we'll remember the song that we sang through the dark and we'll keep it as a symbol for our friendship. I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
now in the morning I sleep alone
sweep the streets I used to own...
Farid's face, after seeing the light of the city.
We arrived to the city. We have never been so excited to see a village. We felt safe again. We camped somewhere.
second campsite. Down the the village.
But the next day was a different story. Let's let that remain history, as well.
