RE: Solo hiking Slieve Donard Part I
First, thank you! Thank you for climbing the mountain and being awesome and taking all these pictures to share with us and sharing your experience here. I seriously can't stop looking at the photos. Our spaceship can be really beautiful sometimes, you know? Especially through the right person's lens...
It is hard to tell in the photographs how steep this thing actually is.
Yeah, I'm noticing that. Our sense of orientation must be a pretty big contributor to our perception of steepness. The pictures probably look a lot more level to me than they do to you, too, because you've been there! I have to kinda remind my brain that I am looking "up."
I was enjoying the cheerful bird songs coming from the pine forest on my right and everything was simply wonderful. I forgot about my nervousness from before.
This sounds like a wonderful feeling. I am very happy that you got to experience it. Just looking at the photos, reading your words, I know it must be an absolutely stunning place to be. I think I'd like to hike a mountain someday, too. Maybe I will even find a slug buddy of my own, who will probably beat me to the top :D
I am so glad I ended up going. Would have been such a loss. Somehow being there made me feel like the hobbit going on an adventure. You know hobbits usually don't do that, but they are still quite curious and scared at the same time. So I was totally a hobbit on this journey. All alone, a bit scared, but really curious and just wanted to explore.
There is actually one photograph that I will share in the part 3 that is closest to show the steepness of it. Somehow I managed to capture it. You'll see. Hopefully!
If you hike this exact mountain, you will find a slug buddy for sure. They were all over it. I had to be careful not to step on them xD
It was truly amazing experience that taught me some things about myself. Would not trade it for anything! Hope you get to hike a mountain as well! :)