Thursday, Sept 13

Today was the big hike, Samaria Gorge.  We arrived at the trailhead about 0830 and found a geocache first thing.  Then we started down the trail.  OMG, the first hour was down the side of a mountain.  We dropped 2000 vertical feet, starting at 3985.  The trail was cut into the mountain and had the skimpiest protection rails I have ever seen.  It was a very rocky path (the whole way)but the views and scenery were amazing.  And as I started to take pictures, my camera had told it had no memory, I had left the SD card in the iPad when transferring pictures.  The good news, Susan had a fully charged iPhone and took lots of pictures.  Once home I'll get the pics loaded so that I can share.
The hike seemed to be never ending, as beautiful as it was, I was ready for the end of the trail.  there was fire control measures in place all along the trail and that forest is ready to burn.  One of our crew fell about 1/3 of the way down, spraining her ankle, getting her a ride out on a donkey.  It had a wood saddle that looked horribly uncomfortable.  There were more people on that trail than I have ever seen on a trail, including all the trails around Multnomah Falls.  It was horrible and really took away from the beauty of the forest and the mountains.

Agai Roumei Sfakia, for the night.  It's another small seaside village at the end of the Samaria Gorge trail.