Wednesday

I was up really early this morning because today I'm going to Šumava so that I can see the mountains. Šumava is actually a forest, but the forest is right next to the Šumava mountains, a 120 kilometer long mountain range. The highest peak is 1,457 meters tall. It is called Gross Arber, meaning Big Maple.

I'm really excited because not only am I looking at the mountains, but I might climb a little of one too! It's going to be a lot of fun; I can already tell! But the first part isn't exactly what you would call exciting. I took a nice stroll in the forest to relax myself and rest a little. It was really peaceful, even more than yesterday's walk.

I'm glad I did that because when I got to the base of the mountain, they were talking business. I had to have a pack, food, rope, whistle, flashlight, and everything else I might need in the most random, most dire circumstances. Luckily, I had read ahead in the little pamphlet I got, and I was ready to go. My guide, Miklos, was a rough guy who looked as if he'd climbed Mount Everest 17 times, and almost died each time. I mean, he was SERIOUS about all of this.

I'm glad he was there though. I'm sure he was very experienced because he knew what to do at any time. Somewhere along the trek (it was too dark to tell what time it was), I accidently got my foot caught in a hole in the snow, and he was right there in a second. He yanked me out without a second thought and I was okay.

After that, I completely respected him, and I knew that the next time I attempted to climb a mountain, I would remember everything he said, exactly as he said it. I now look up to him, hoping that if I ever climb another mountain, I'll be just as well off as he was.

About half an hour later, we turned back to go down. We had only climbed about a fourth of the mountain. I knew that we wouldn't go up the whole thing, but I also thought that we would go up more than we did. I asked about it, but they said that the trail after the place where we turned around was way too dangerous to take tourists up. I tried to ask more, but they said nothing else.

We got back to the base of the mountain, and I wanted to take another walk in the forest. It was dusk by now, and so the forest was even more beautiful than before. The light that the sun gave off was amazing, seeing as it was partly red and pink as well. When the sun set, I felt that I had accomplished what I wanted to that day, and I started to head home.

Back in my hotel. I fell onto my bed and was fast asleep before I had even undressed.