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Ryan J Schmitz - Husband, Father, Traveler, Hiker

Husband, Father, Traveler

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Day 6 Hiking Across Madeira Island Starting Point: Day 6 Hiking Across Madeira Island Starting Point: Ribeiro Frio Distance: 22 mi / 35.5 km Elevation Gain : 3300 ft / 1005 m Final day of the hike. Knowing that Alltrails, our navigation app, has been off on assumed mileage every day, we decided to start extra early, the app said it was a 17 mile day. We quickly finished off our picnic breakfast in the shared kitchen of our overnight stay and then left Ribeiro Frio to roosters crowing at around 5:20am. It was a slow climb through pine forests in the dark, but it felt good to get the majority of our 3000+ foot elevation gain out of the way before the sun rose. The remaining morning was a consistent drop from about 5000 feet down to our cliff walk 1,000 feet above the ocean. Unfortunately our planned lunch stop on the way down, where we were both hoping for some more Regional Kebab, was not open, so we were stuck eating off of a street vendor where we consumed some bananas, chocolate, and more passion fruit soda. Along the final descent we ran into some trail runners who were being led by one of the top 10 ultra runners in Madeira. Again, I questioned reality when they confirmed that the hike that we were going to finally finish on our 6th day had been completed by the top athletes in about 13 hours. I still can’t comprehend how that's possible. The cliff walk was beautiful with steep drop offs to the ocean below and cliff walls covered in succulents. The variety of terrain that we experienced on this hike was really quite impressive. After another slight detour (cough cough getting lost...again) our final 4-5 miles was along another levada that seemed to go the most indirect route possible to our final destination, Machico Beach. We hit the trail end by early afternoon and some unlucky cab driver decided to pick us, in all our glorious stink, up and take us back to Funchal, where we enjoyed a few days of rest before heading back to Lisbon for a 24 hour layover and then finally home. Good times. Already planning the next one. Check out the video in bio.
Day 5 Hiking Across Madeira Island Starting Point: Day 5 Hiking Across Madeira Island Starting Point: Pico Ruivo Distance: 15.5 mi / 25 km Elevation Gain : 3100 ft / 945 m Watching the sunrise on Pico Ruivo is quite an experience. Lucky for us, sunrise isn’t until 7am, so it wasn’t too early in the morning. The first few steps outside of our refugio reminded us again how the 15 euro price for a bed inside was well worth it. Any standing water outside was now frozen and there was a constant high wind. Camping certainly would have been a long cold night. It was only about a 15 minute hike to the top of Pico Ruivo and to our surprise, there were actually quite a few people already there. The refugio wasn’t that big, so I’m fairly certain some of them camped out but most of them probably hiked over from Pico do Arieiro, roughly 3 miles, where there is a parking lot. Standing on the highest point of the island, looking at the sunrise over the clouds that are below you, was a great way to start the day. After sunrise, we got a bit of a late start, but after the prior day, we were sure we were going to make good time. Unfortunately the hike between Pico Ruivo and Pico do Arieiro is the most popular hike on the island. It’s beautiful, it’s dramatic, and it’s got to many freaking people. Trail etiquette went out the window as most people were walking the opposite direction of us and were simply never allowing us to pass on the narrow trail. What should have taken only 1 to 1.5 hours ended up taking us nearly 3. Once at the top of Pico do Arieiro, there was a lovely little snack bar, where we enjoyed steak sandwiches and more passion fruit soda was consumed. The next part of our hike was a huge shift in terrain. After walking through wet cloud forests, and ridges, the next phase seemed to be a dryer grassland. That was a decent sized chunk of our day, before we began hiking down another levada and back into the recognizable cloud forests. We didn’t stumble into Ribeiro Frio until well after dark but our backpackers hotel was very nice and worth the slight detour. Dinner was great as we enjoyed a regional meat platter with a side of potatoes washed down with more passion fruit soda, we’re beginning to see a pattern.
Day 4 Hiking Across Madeira Island Starting Point: Day 4 Hiking Across Madeira Island Starting Point: Encumeada Distance: 16.75 mi / 27 km Elevation Gain : 7700 ft / 2350 m We started early today, as our first section was expected to be fairly uneventful. Knowing that today was going to be challenging, we had arranged for the hotel to prepare for us a picnic breakfast, which consisted of a couple of sandwiches, a juice box, muffin, fruit, and of course a mars bar. No breakfast is complete without it. Continuing to follow the route of the #MIUT we first went down to go back up a water pipe in the darkness of the early morning. By the time we climbed the roughly 1200 foot elevation gain next to the water pipe the sun was starting to peak out, and being Sunday we could hear church sermons being played over the radio in some of the rural homes we passed. By the time we crossed the pass of Pico Grande, the last of the clouds had finally burned off, and for the first time, I could tell I was actually sweating, rather than just being wet from the constant rain and mist we’ve been walking through. Another reason for the early morning is that we had planned on having lunch in the town we were passing through, Faja Escura. We were treated with more Regional Kebabs, this time with chicken, and a comically large portion of “medium” potatoes. Apparently, a medium consists of 12 large potatoes, I am curious as to what size group orders the large. After more passion fruit soda and a magnum ice cream, it was time to make the final push up to the top of #PicoRuivo. The landscape became more dramatic the higher we got, we would again find ourselves walking into and out of clouds. We were treated to a great sunset and finally got to the top of Pico Ruivo, the highest peak on #Madeira, just after sunset. Our plan was to camp that night but we decided to roll the dice to see if the snack bar, found just below the peak, was still open. Much to our surprise, the snack bar was also a refúgio and they had space for the two of us. It wasn’t exactly 5-star accommodations, but it was probably one of the best surprises of the trip considering it got below freezing with 50 mph winds that night.
Day 3 Hiking Across Madeira Island Starting Point: Day 3 Hiking Across Madeira Island Starting Point: Caramujo Distance: 10.9 mi / 17.5 km Elevation Gain : 3000 ft / 915 m Last easy day before we start hitting major elevation and distance. The day started as a wet morning leaving #caramujo. We made the poor decision of forgoing breakfast, due to lack of water source, but had a plan to cook once we found some water. That never came to fruition. We followed a dry levada, an irrigation channel that is frequently found beside our trails, down into our next valley. Along the way, we finally, for our first time in 3 days, started to see some blue skies. By the time we got down to #Rosario, roughly 7 miles in, I started to bonk pretty hard. Although the day should have been relatively easy, we were still burning between 8,000-10,000 calories a day, and I was running off of only cliff blocks and stinger wafers. It was a slog. We were able to drag ourselves to a snack bar at Boca de Encumada where we devoured honey cake, some “pizza”, and washed it all down with Brisa Maracujá, a local passionfruit soda. Highly recommended. Afterward, we made it to our backpacker’s hotel, Estalagem da Encumeada, where we were able to get a lukewarm shower, wash some clothes, and enjoy some regional kebabs for dinner.
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