One of the coolest fifty rocks on planet earth

Dear readers,

This weekend I had the fortune to visit a medieval market, see Spanish Saturday nightlife, and try a healthy sampling of good food. I may talk about these things later if time permits, but not tonight. Other topics have lost their spots because today we explored what is definitely one of the coolest fifty rocks on the planet.

That's a pretty big claim Tim, you may think, but I intend to support it.

The rock to which I refer is the Peñon de Ifach in Calpe, Spain. The Peñon's form towers hundreds of feet above the Medeterain lapping against its base, and represents the most prominent object in its host town. What makes it remarkable is the hike to its summit. We took many pictures, which I will add as soon as possible, but for now to give you an idea, check it out on Google images.

Walking towards the rock, we realized how enormous it was, and how completely unhikable its rocky face appeared. It would have been cool enough to just look at the lovely beach beneath it, and marvel at the sheer face, but we soon discovered a visitor trail going up to the base of its spire.

At the top of the trail as it turned out, there was a tunnel going into the rock, and on the other side of the tunnel, a trail winding for miles up to its top. The ensuing hike was far more involved than we had expected, but featured views that made me feel almost guilty that most my friends were just waking up in their college dorms back in the states.

The non-sheer cliff side is a steep, steep hill with a rope guided path lazing along it, and foliage turning what would otherwise be a sometimes terrifying walk into a manageable undertaking. In late afternoon, when we scaled it, the foliaged side is entirely shaded by the summit's high ridge. The bleached white rocks are set against a background of scraggly trees lit by flaring sun through their branches, and hundreds of seagulls cruise on a sea breeze floating across perfectly blue water. It's really not fair that people actually live next to this.

When we got to the top, we suddenly looked over the maybe 1000 foot cliff we had earlier examined from below, and saw a group of climbers who had just completed the scale. We shared some oranges and took pictures, then continued on our way to avoid having to descend in darkness.

We were rushed at the end to reach or tram, and had to walk several miles in the dark, but when we reached the tram station, a pub was still open and we enjoyed warm pastries and chorizo sandwiches to some excellent Spanish music.

To be adequately effusive, I'm not sure that the day could have gone better.

Now why are other rocks not as sweet as this one? Well first of all, it is pretty big, so that of course means that it has better than the smaller rocks (I've gotta stick to my American roots somehow right?). Now that we've eliminated those scrawny underdogs, what remains are the really big rocks (Let's call mountains also rocks). They take too long to hike, and are only marginally more gorgeous at best. Therefore these rocks are also worse, and the Peñon wins.

The biggest lesson from this came while I reflected on the morning. I was moments away from rolling over and going to sleep. In general, don't go back to sleep.

Sleep is for the weak; who needs good rest and the sound reasoning that follows when we can walk on cool rocks instead?
Tim