Three Cross Hike

On July 5, we went with some other students on a fun and challenging hike.  It's called the "Three Cross Hike" because there are 3 crosses to hike to as you go up the mountain.  We could not have asked for a better day weather-wise - it was a clear blue sky with a lot of sun.

We took two buses to get there.  We got on the first bus at 7 AM and before 8:00 we were getting started on the hike.   One of the guys that went with us had done the hike before so he helped guide us on the right trails.

The hike started on a paved road (which was actually quite steep!)...

...but soon enough we were on the trail.

 


This is the first cross, it took about 45 minutes to get here from the start of the hike:

This is the second cross - it was really windy at the top of the steps - from the first cross to the second was 30-40 minutes:

As we left the second cross, we saw 5 guys on dirt bikes come up the other side of the mountain (not the same way we had just hiked).  They went up to the third cross on the same trail that we would go.


This is the third cross - up at the cross are the 5 guys that went up on dirt bikes - from the second cross to the third was about 30-40 minutes:

Behind the third cross is a short path to an open area with some great views:

As we walked down the mountain back to the bus stop, Hannah and I were asking each other if we would do the hike again.  Considering we felt exhausted and our bodies were sore we decided it would be better to answer that question after a few days.  Now it's been a few days, and the verdict is...Yes! we would do it again.


We got back to our apartment at 1:30 PM, which made it a total trip time of 6 1/2 hours.  It was time well spent.