Monday, May 26, 2005
Day hike to the Great Soca Gorge ~ 40,000 steps
Today we bit off more that we could chew. Our bodies are tired. Our feet are so tired. Mentally, we’re done hiking, at least for a little bit. But there’s a great day hike from here to see the Little and Great Soca Gorge. Easy the book says…
Our apartment does not include breakfast, so we got ready for the day and walked down to the Hotel Alp and spent 30 Euros (!) on their breakfast buffet.
It was not all it was cracked up to be, and they did have signs saying not to take food from the buffet, but we fashioned a sandwich from the fixins and squirreled it away in our packs.
We left the hotel after walking through the map with the gal at reception and started our day. A 6 hour hike our book says, and we’re leaving at 8:45 so we should have plenty of time for the hike, finally getting Nathan a beard trim and some relaxation.
We follow the path marked with the Soska Pot trail signs, passed campgrounds, kayak put-in spots, war memorials, and swing bridge after swing bridge. Seriously, why are they so swingy? You could lose your lunch!
We stopped for many picturesque spots along the Soca River, and walked across each and every swing bridge, mostly because the trail did also, but also because they are fun. A few even had boards missing. We took photos to document it all.
By 11 am, our feet are getting quite tired of walking, so we sat next to the Soca on some rocks and had a snack. All of a sudden, Nathan screams something unintelligible, and then “Swimming Snake!” He gets up with his camera to try and find it, and I stay seated, comfortable that the swimming attack snake will get him first. We never saw the snake again, and we get up to continue to the Little Soca Gorge.
We made it up to the lower, Little Soca Gorge just a few minutes before noon. We followed the rocky, scrambling paths for the next 45 minutes from the Little Soca to the Great Soca Gorge, until one of us nearly melted down (It was me!). We need to rest, sit, eat, and rest. Nathan navigates us across a bridge to a bench already occupied by a bunch of hovering, motorcyclists on tour. We sit anyway and eat our lunch.
We were basically done, when one of the motorcyclists lit up a cigarette, and we took the opportunity to leave.
We chose the easier, high path away from the gorges, and start to walk back to Bovec. We have a few things on our agenda, namely a foot soak in the Soca on our way back, and finally getting Nathan a beard trim.
We decided to stop at one of the campgrounds for a take-away cold beverage and ice cream bar and continue on the path down the Soca.
Once we finished the ice cream, we stopped for a foot soak in the river. It’s quite cold, but not quite as cold as the water was in Bohinjska Bistrica.
Rejuvenated, we put our boots back on, and hike back to Bovec enjoying our cold beverages. The way back was mostly the same path as the way out, so we stop less for photos, but even still, the afternoon is quickly escaping us. 3 pm and we’re still on the trail with a long way to go, and thunderclouds are building in front of us.
We didn’t make it. The rain came in hard, hard enough that we needed pack covers, rain jackets, and rain pants. We trudge, irritated, cranky, you name it into town.
It was 5 pm by the time we stumbled past the market. I marched myself inside to buy a 5 Euro bottle of the local white, and we went back to our apartment. The beard trim will need to wait.
