evagabourel

Outlier Peak Experience by Eva Gabourel

Written in April 2014
As soon as Marlon and Carlos sent an email and posted a flier about the Outlier Peak trip I was interested in going. I had missed the one in 2011 because I had other plans at the time and I had always wanted to do it. The invitation came at a time when I was more than ready for an outdoor adventure. I just love doing intense outdoor adventure-type activities in Belize!
The night before the hike I realized I was only going to get 4 hours of sleep because I had to be up at 2:30 a.m. if I was supposed to leave at 3:30 a.m. and be down at the Cockscomb Visitor Center for 6:30 a.m. As luck would have it, I was as excited as a kid going on her first school trip and sleep eluded me.
I can’t tell what time I fell asleep but the last time I checked it was 12:30 a.m. Still, I jumped up at the sound of my alarm and was ready in record time. My peanut butter and jam sandwiches were already made since the night before, snacks were packed, as well as water and Gatorade. I even had time to pack a small icebox with extra water and a few extra bottles of Gatorade.
I picked up Loany and Denis at 3:45 a.m. on April 12, 2014and by the time I dropped off my dad’s fat free, salt free food it was almost 4:00 a.m.
We met Marlon, Kenny and Edwin in Belmopan at 4:30 a.m. after we picked up Milton at the Belmopan Junction.
From there it was non-stop to the Maya Center where we turned off the highway unto a dirt road that would lead us to the base of the hike. We had told Carlos we would be there for 6:30 a.m. and we were very punctual. He thought we might not show up on time or not show up at all and he was not ready until 7:00 a.m.
After a few photos together, we left at 7:10 a.m. on our journey to the top of Outlier Peak. There were eleven of us in the group and only three of us were females. It started off well enough as we walked straight, flat terrain for exactly an hour before it was time to veer off onto the actual outlier hike.

As it turns out, there were a couple areas where the path was not clear so the guys had to clear it for a few feet. Two members of the group had machetes. As soon as we started going uphill I was regretting bringing so much stuff in my backpack.
When I set off with my heavy bag I was sure I would need everything in there, and I convinced myself it would get lighter as we went along as I started drinking water and eating the snacks.
I had six peanut butter and jam sandwiches – I wanted to have extras in case anyone was hungry. I had 3 litres of water and 1 bottle of Gatorade. I had a first aid kit which consisted of BandAids, ibuprofen, nail clipper, cotton balls, lip balm, sun block cream, hand sanitizer, q-tips, moleskin, 5-hour energy drinks and muscle rub. I also had pringles, chocolates, candy, 4 bananas and 2 apples.
I also had Ziploc bags for phones in case it started raining. Then I had to have an extra pair of shorts, a top and a raincoat – all light weight of course!
Marlon offered to carry my bag as he was not carrying anything but I could not have that. I must be a “macho” girl but there’s no way I would be OK with myself if I had to have a guy help with my bag. I carried it in the first place so I needed to see it through. Plus I liked the extra challenge of doing the hike with a heavy backpack.
After the third hour of the hike, I started feeling how tough it was. It was predominantly uphill with a lot of steep inclines. The bag felt super heavy and I had to drink a lot of water to keep hydrated. Thankfully it was not a very unbearable heat. The jungle canopy provided enough shade. I was dreading the dangerous parts I was anticipating in my head. I remember when we were climbing the Victoria Peak there were parts where if you made a wrong step you could fall to your death if you were not careful. Thankfully there were only two such parts on the Outlier Hike. And the guys were well prepared with ropes to make it easier to climb. Everybody crossed it without incident.
The guys in the lead did play a horrible joke by throwing down a huge rock and pretending it was a person. Loany was ready to do a rescue operation. Another sick joke a couple of them did to me was to say “Tiger” in an anxious voice and I jumped all three times. Funny, very funny!
There was one “trick peak” when I thought we had already made it but then I was told to peep over and look up beyond the brushes. Yup, we still had higher to go!

But the view as we went higher kept getting more breath taking every time there was a clearing so it was good motivation.
When I got to the peak around 11:15 a.m., behind the first group, they were all sitting down with snacks out but I thought it was just another trick peak. It was not what I was expected, because the path ended rather abruptly. I really thought they were messing with me and it was not the peak. Turns out it was and the view was just stunning!
Of course I had my phone and took loads of pictures of the view, of the others and quite a bit of “selfies”. I also did some funny videos. I had two of my sandwiches and gave away four, I shared the chocolates and pringles and candy. I shared the extra bananas and one of the apples. Denis borrowed my phone and took even more “selfies” than I did – I almost thought it was his phone when I went through the photos.
We spent about 45 minutes at the top of the Outlier Peak and then we started the 4 hour journey back down. It was a relief on the legs to not have to climb as much hills but the constant downhill took a toll on the toes as they pushed on the front of our shoes. At least my backpack was a lot lighter!
The trip down was very entertaining with the guys swinging on trees like tarzan and we even had a re-enactment of Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” by Denis.
By the time we got to the flat that part would take an hour before we got to the base where we started, I was so tired that I was not looking forward to the long walk. It was sheer mental power that got me to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. I did not feel the need to pee the entire time until now but I decided I’d wait to use a proper bathroom. The 4 km felt like it would never end! As soon as we got there I put slippers on and raced to the bathroom. My legs felt like they were not my own but it felt absolutely awesome to have made it!
The best part about the whole hike was doing it with a group who had great camaraderie and who looked out for each other. I felt a sense of tremendous accomplishment for finishing the hike without injury and without having to surrender my backpack to one of the guys!