Hike on Mount Olympus

Thursday June 7 – Day 13 of the Intrepid Trip

Well we made it!! 6:03:20 total time with 3:30:10 moving time. Average moving speed 4.4 kph. Temperature 25C with a 5 kph wind and 61% humidity. Elevation gain was 1,295 metres and elevation loss was 511 metres; minimum elevation was 287 and maximum elevation was 1,087.

It certainly wasn’t a cakewalk, I’d say it was a moderate hike. The footing was good; rocky, steps, and just dirt trail. We passed the usual boulder field, but didn’t have to climb through it. There were umpteen ups and downs! By the end, my legs were tired, but then I had run almost 17 k the day before on mainly tarmac, so they weren’t fresh when I started.  Those are the stats! Mount Olympus is in the Olympus Range which has 52 peaks and deep gorges. We walked from the town of Litochoro up as far as Prionia.

It was a beautiful hike up the side of the canyon leading to Mount Olympus. The Olympian God myths set the tone. Zeus had a home on the highest peak in the range. We kept wishing that Pegasus (son of Poseidon) would appear to fly us up to the top; but I guess we didn’t please the Gods enough as he never appeared!!

Being in nature is always a calming experience. And this trail had the power that only a connection with the Gods could create! High mountain rock faces all around, narrow hillside paths going up to peaks with amazing views, and down to rushing rivers crossed by intricate wooden bridges. Mini waterfalls tumbling down the rock cracks, boulder fields created by rock falls, wild flowers smiling up at us from rocky gardens, narrow paths with rock walls on one side and steep falls on the other. We were accompanied by two dogs at one point, but they soon left us slow human pokes far behind…they had four legs, we had two! And all the time we climbed, and descended, climbed again, and descended again, till we arrived at the restaurant at the end of our hike. Ray and Tess joined us with about an hour and a half left on the hike. They had an introduction to some of the easier parts of the hike but it was still a lot of ups and downs.

Although sad to leave Mt Olympus, we were happy to have completed the climb. Taxis picked us up at 3 and we whizzed back down the mountains on a somewhat road, narrow and windy. Our taxi driver had completed a marathon on the hill six times.  It took him 8+ hours. It is held in June every year! He was older now, and hadn’t done it for a while…but he was intent on implanting the seed of an adventure in my mind!!! See https://www.olympus-marathon.com/en/node . It seems the run goes straight up to the top of the mountain and back down the other side to Litochoro!! Hmmmm, don’t think I’ll be attempting that one!!

Once at the bottom, I had a well earned shower, a bit of a rest, and then we headed out to dinner to a little restaurant called Mezze Mezze. I had a delicious dinner of mussels in tomato sauce. And as a treat, the restaurant gave us all a glass of ouzo and a mini ice cream. Apparently here in Greece the restaurants tend to give you a mini desert at the end of the meal, negating the necessity to order a desert. It’s on the house!!

It was an exhilarating day.