Keeper of the Map-Blue Mountains

     A week before my Blue Mountains trip, one of my Aussie friends said, "Don't expect much. . .tourists come to the Blue Mountains and are disappointed because they don't see BLUE mountains."
     Before she said that, I had imagined something like Gatlinburg in the U.S, with hiking trails and a small town in the center of the mountains.  I never really considered what the name "Blue Mountains" meant, but I was definitely not expecting blue trees (like apparently other tourists were expecting!).  I learned later is that the name "Blue Mountains" originates because of the blue haze that comes from Eucalyptus trees. . .and just in case anyone was wondering- the trees are green!!! haha

     I don't know if it was the beautiful weather, the people, or the Blue Mountains in general, but this trip was one of my favorite ones yet!  My favorite part was HIKING the trails that go along the ridge, with spectacular look-outs and cool scenery.  The forest was dense in some areas, and one of my friends joked that we were in the Land Before Time.  

     And, since I was so excited about the hikes, I came prepared with a map with the long hike highlighted. I found the way to the start of the trail from our hostel, using my handy-dandy map and gained confidence on my map-reading ability.  All I had to do now was keep us on the correct path in the woods.  Sounds easy right?

     Of course, you probably can guess what happened.  After seeing amazing rock formations- including the Three Sisters- the route had us going down the mountain and along the valley.  It looked like we should take the Giant Staircase to the base of the mountain.  And, since I was "Map Lady," I told everyone that going all the way down the Giant Staircase was a great idea and part of the planned route. 

     After walking down steps for what seemed like hours, we finally asked someone how many more steps we had to reach the bottom.  They said that we were halfway.  (Let me pause right here and say that whoever named the stairs the "Giant Staircase" was genius.  It depicts them perfectly.)  One of the girls on the hike had knee trouble and we decided that it would be hard to continue going down the steep steps to get to the very bottom, so-as much as we did not want to do this- we hiked back up the stairs that we just walked down.

     Now, as I look at the map, I realize that the map is. not. drawn. to. scale!  The Giant staircase is a mere 2 mm, making it look like there were about 20 steps.  There were a bit more than 20 on the way back up. . .I counted and realized that we walked back up 518 steps!!!  All to get where we started! 

    Then, I resigned my position as keeper of the map, and happily handed it over to someone else before I was fired from my position, haha!  Oh well, at least we got some good exercise!