Let's Get Lost

Mariazell

(Sadly, due to unforeseen circumstances, such as a nasty cold, homework, and poor weather conditions, Ilsa was unable to attend the hike because she might have died, which would make life miserable, so I forbade her from going, in order to maintain happiness for the both of us)

Friday: such an amazing experience! Woke up early, hopped on a bus, and drove a ways to be dropped off in the middle of a nature park. Along with about 70 other students, we started our walk in what would be a 24 mile pilgrimage to the shrine of Maria Zell, in honor of the pro-life cause. Seriously, this became one of my favorite things I have done since coming to Austria.

To start off the hike, my friends and I sang songs ranging from Mulan’s “Be a Man” to “Lord of the Dance”. We were hiking through the gorge at that time, so we took many stops along the way to admire the beauty of nature that was all around us (waterfalls, river rapids, rolling mountains, etc.). After a while, I was separated from the group for a bit, which turned into a great opportunity for thought and reflection—even took the time to eat my entire apple, core and all, in honor of our trip to Glacier National park last year (this one’s for you Ms. Kuphal ;) 

 The hike went on for about 4 hours when we came across this tiny outpost along the river. No idea how they did it, but it was a restaurant where we could by food and drinks if you needed a small break from the hike. Laura and I wanted to continue on, so alone we made our way up the dreaded never-ending hill that Mr. Pipp had warned us about. Only, we completely forgot about that, so we kept turning the corner expecting it to level out, but it didn’t (this is the hill that neeever ends, it just goes on and on my friiieennnds), so that was disappointing (fight the pain—it’s for the babies!).

Needless to say we survived, and ended up catching up with my old roommate Melanie and Sister Maria Clare. That didn’t last long, though, because they were power walkers and we were tired. We stopped for a stretching break in a rolling meadow (yes, we did frolic—couldn’t resist), then continued on. 

 The last 5K was probably the toughest. By then, I felt like an old man—my knees hurt, the bottom of my feet had blisters, we were feeling muscles that we didn’t even know we had—but  we kept on. The end was composed of highway roads, cutting through a small town before opening up to the home stretch. Somehow, we ended up ahead of Sister M.C.  and Melanie (they took a wrong turn). Together with them we made it through the cold and the rain to the end of the pilgrimage, getting a celebratory scoop of gelato from the town (pretty sure we earned our sweets for the day) and taking a much needed break on the side walk before heading to Mass.  In total, the trip took us 6 hours and 45 minutes (Yes!—under 7 hours!).

This post doesn’t do the day justice, because (as cliché as this sounds) words cannot describe the experience of this hike. Honestly, one of the best experiences ever and couldn’t of be happier that I was blessed enough to be able to take part in it.