Mountain Paradise???

Saturday we decide to go hiking. My last attempt did not go so well, so I was leery of trying again. But I'd heard such great things about this place called Mountain Paradise, that when Brenna, Lana, and Annie wanted to go, I tagged along with them.

It was over an hour drive to get there. But between the traffic and the condition of the roads here it's probably not over 25 miles away. We get to the town and we turn off onto the mountain road that takes us to the Mountain Paradise lodge. I can safely say that it is the worst road I've been on in Ghana. It is little more than a gravel path with ruts deep enough to get lost in. We wind up this path. The higher we go, the less worried I get; because the higher we are, the less we have to go up, right?

Then Annie, who's been on this hike before, tells us that we go all the way to the top and then walk back down to start the path. About this time we pass a guide with a group of Americans. (They were white and had Lake Placid apparel on.) We continue on to get our own guide. But when we get to the top we're told that Believer is the only guide they have. So we can only go on the hike if we can drive back down and catch him before they get on the trail. We did, thankfully.

So the first part of the trail off the "road" is almost straight down. I know we end up at the top, at the lodge. So I start to worry about the fact that we are going even further down into the mountain valley. But we end up at one waterfall and it's not so bad. The hiking is both vertical and horizontal and having the other family of Americans with us, slowed us down enough that I with my asthma and Lana with her probably broken ankle can keep up. (It's been hurt since week one but its a chronic problem that she refuses to deal with until she gets home. She's very stubborn.)

Before we can see the next waterfall we have to rappel down a hill side. Without a harness. Luckily no one slipped. I didn't get in the waterfall like the others because I abhor wet socks. With a passion. And with half the hike left I was not purposely making myself miserable.

Unfortunately, I wasn't warned that due to the heavy rainfall we'd be wading knee deep through steams anyway. So I could have gotten in the damn waterfall. Oh well.

It took us about two hours but we finally made it back. Dripping in sweat. Covered in mud. Starving and and dying of thirst. We looked like refugees escaping from a war. But I'd do it all again. It was absolutely amazing. Great exercise that is still making me sore 2 days later, but completely worth it for the views.