A long weekend, second wave pandemic times with inter-regional travel ban and a named storm bringing a winter spell to the local hills. A three-tier challenge to remind me why I love backpacking.
Beating the crowds
This was a perfect storm scenario, including the actual meteorological storm itself when the snow turns into just another commodity to exploit by the urban types, the effect augmented by the understandable travel ban after the Covid-19 in a densely populated region. I usually take this early December holiday to flee somewhere remote with my bicycle friends to the point that we’ve made a tradition out of it and even set ourselves up with a name -we’re The (travelling) Decemberists1– but 2020 didn’t look like a good time for group riding, not even locally, so I went solo. On foot. Snowshoes likely.
The Guadarrama Range is close to Madrid town and it gets busy often, more so when there’s snow to play with. In long weekends, many people flee to other regions but this wasn’t possible within undergoing, Covid-19 related regulations. Crowds will crowd the hotspots but there’s much more terrain to traverse and be on your own while carmaggedon ensues in the popular road passes. I traced a linear route, using public transport and along the high valleys and connecting saddles. A big storm going would make the peaks and ridges a bad place to be.
Saturday
Cold, windy, a mix of light and dark
The bus leaves me on a frigid, still sleepy mountain town with pub offer enough for a final treat before departure. Double the ration.
Mountain town early morning vibe
Coffee or chocolate? Bring me both
The trailhead looks wintry with snow on the ground and the leafless oak trees. The reservoir nearby doesn’t look inviting with the cold wind going over and down the south flanks of the main range in the background.
Quiet, wintry trailhead
No swimming today
Up at the pass, the secondary road has been plowed and the small carpark is almost full but the pass itself is a wind funnel and not a nice stay despite the sunny spells alternating with the grey mist in the quick moving clouds. Motorists certainly beat me on arrival and I cannot tread on virgin powder on the trail down.
Road passes of the Guadarrama
Coming down from the pass
Down in the next valley there’s seamless snow cover and the oak trees make for a perfectly wintry scene. At only 1200 m high, such scene doesn’t usually last so I enjoy the moment, both the grey and the light.
Oak trees and horses in the snow
Light here, darkness beyond
Bridge over the Lozoya River
I climb high to end the day away from people but still in the woods at 1700 m high. The wind is fierce and I need to find a rock wall to shelter, the trees alone wouldn’t be enough for a comfy night. I brought with me the Warmlite tent, which is very strong in the wind. The gusts will howl for long hours but only rarely making my shelter shake.
The elegance in a well tensioned tunnel tent
I really miss a vestibule in this tent though. When cooking outside is out of the question, it becomes a tricky chore. I spent several minutes holding the pot until the water was hot.
Far from ideal
Sunday
Cold, windy and dark
It snowed again overnight and I needed to knock stuff off my ceiling a couple times. Everything was so very immaculate white in the morning. Snow depth varied greatly depending on wind shifts and there was about 20 cm in my relatively sheltered location. Lowest temp I recorded was not as cold as forecast.
New snow overnight
20 cm of soft powder
At dawn
In this off-the-beaten-track area, I could enjoy the pure whiteness and feeling of isolation, only the howling wind breaking the silence. The meteo station on top of the hill has measured gusts up to 100 km/h during the weekend. There are no breaks in the cloud and everything is dark grey. I remember well this same traverse in similar conditions in pre-Smartphone times without a dedicated GPS either and it was more thrilling, this time it was just hard work and, other than that, just as beautiful. I was grateful for the snowshoes even though I could technically have done without.
Love the grey
Lone post shows the way
Stone, marker, stone across a snow covered meadow
The one hotspot I cannot avoid has a full parking lot and lots of people playing around in the snow but the ongoing blizzard cools the vibe down. I watch in wonder as much as I understand the long queue outside the small, roadside pub as it cannot let people in freely due to capacity restrictions. The clothing adds a note of color to the monochrome scene.
Road, cars, people
Down from the pass, everything gets happily quiet again. As I come down I leave the cloud and the monochrome behind and the magnificent pine trees show color on their trunks again. The main valley flowing north displays a necessarily short-lived view of the snow covered highland plains.
Still all-grey
Off the cloud
All under the snow
As I approach more populated areas, I move well off-trail and find a level spot in the slope for a quiet night. The wind still blows hard from different sides but the Warmlite seems to take all gusts with relative ease.
A flat spot in the slope
Monday
Stormy and wet
Temperature rises dramatically during the night and snow turns to rain in my spot at 1600 m high. It was in the forecast, known but not welcome, the environment gets saturated with humidity and the tent becomes a condensation trap. I care little because I know it’s my last night on the trail, otherwise I’d be rather pissed.
Warmlite 2C’s footprint
The last day is a relaxed plan for a nice, unpretentious hike in the pouring rain with my partner, whom I meet in the nearby village, with the promise of a warm dining room at the end of the day in the pub at the end of the road.
A walk in the woods
The morning is overcast but mostly dry and my Buffalo shirt becomes too warm for the first time in the trip during the climbing leg, showing its limitations for general purpose backpacking. You wouldn’t want to take this 1 pound, high volume monster off and put it in the pack, even if you still have room for it. When the blizzard returns, so does the Special 6 and I love it again for the great protection, sheltering feeling and versatility at keeping elements off. We both do.
Dressed for success
When it starts to really pour down, it’s time for the waterproof long tops whose validity for backpacking we’re still pondering. The Dark Lord fashion is a pullover version going down to just above the knee, the Red Vader cape is an actual full front zip jacket capable of covering a big pack while going down to knee level or almost ankle height when worn under the pack. Both tops are ample wear and provide a good protection, non-clammy feeling. I used the Dark Lord pullover in my previous year’s CDT thru-hike.
Down to the knee cover
Unsightly, I know
We arrive at the pub at the end of the road for a well deserved, two course, spoon-in-one-hand-bread-on-the-other local specialty. Whenever during the trip I felt the work was too demanding and the fun turned dangerously to type 2+, I kept thinking of these. It really helped to have such a meaningful goal.
Warm inside
Warm soup
XL beans
It’s a recurrent thought in my outdoors time and it happened often during this short trip: why the hell am I doing this? It’s tough, it’s hard work, it’s cold and it’s wet, why all the suffering? And I know it’s because it makes me feel fine, it makes me feel alive and connected and it’s only through times like these that I can now be sitting down in front of a screen typing this. Otherwise it’d be pointless, not because I’d lack anything to say but because I’d miss the point of doing it.
Soundtrack to the trip was this absolutely beautiful song by one of my favorite bands:
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