Chasing the Sunset / "Forget about it, we just climbed Croagh Patrick!"

Hello all! What a busy weekend we've had -- Thursday night we had a really clear sunset, so Melissa & Colleen & I walked down to the beach and waited for the sun to set over Clew Bay.

The view between two of the housing developments on the way to the beach

My favorite hill en route to the beach

I don't know what this hut used to be used for, but it was framed really nicely against Clare Island in the distance :)

The road down to the beach

The hills and Clare Island framing the sun as it sinks over Clew Bay!

From where we were, the sun didn't sink directly over the water, but it was pretty close!

I had to take my flats and socks off to climb onto my perch for watching the sunset; and because it took about a half hour for the sun to properly set, I took a picture of the rocks and my shoes. Artsy.

That's as far as it set before we got tired and went home... still a very pretty view!

The same hut as before, framed against different hills!

Me and Brittnie, hanging out after the beach adventure. It was such a nice night, a lot of people were outside hanging out and fooling around :D

 Friday morning was the big day -- the first group climb of Croagh Patrick!!! For some, it will be our first and last time, since it was a very difficult climb, but others are sure to do it again...

The brave explorers, getting ready to set out!!!!

The view from the first hundred feet in...

All three boys climbed the mountain without shoes -- here they're taking them off by a statue of St. Patrick

Barefoot champions! Taylor, Eric, and Kyle

The view of the challenge ahead of us...

Calla and Croagh Patrick

There were 3 distinct 'legs' to the climb -- here we took a break maybe halfway through the first leg and took a picture of how high up we were. At the time we thought we had climbed a really long way... little did we know...

Status picture #1: sweaty and aching calves, but none the worse for wear yet. The first 'leg' of the journey had a pretty good incline to it but the rocks were safe to climb on and it wasn't very windy yet...

Amber illustrating the raw power of the WIND as soon as we hit the beginning of the second leg. It quite nearly blew us off our feet, and some people were turning back because it felt too dangerous. We, of course, walked sideways through it and kept going...

Me and Melissa trying to stand still in the wind, and kind of failing...

The second leg of the climb was mostly flat and a clear path, but the wind was phenomenal. I wish we would've had a wind gauge, to see how fast it was going -- it felt like tornado speeds at least.

Amber and Melissa, with the rest of the group in the distance -- not too bad of a path along here

The view from the second leg. You can just see the corner of a small lake on the right -- very misty and maybe raining off in the distance? It didn't rain on us, but it did get cloudy and cold for a little while

Status picture #2: just starting the third and final leg, very tired, not amused but hanging in there...

You can see the trail behind us, the second leg mostly...

The third leg, dubbed 'Hell' -- almost vertical climb, lots of loose rocks and sand, and very hard on the legs. The most difficult part of the climb, hands down...

The view from the top!!!! There are supposed to be 365 islands out there, but we could only see a few, because some clouds occasionally wandered across the area

Status picture #3: happy to be alive

Melissa, Taylor, me, Katie Murphy, Eric, Amber, Colleen, Bailey, Calla, and Kyle -- CHAMPIONS of the mountain!!!

The three Duluth Pack bags that made the climb with us: Amber, Kyle, and me

Calla, Katie M, and Taylor. The church is in the background

Bailey and I coming back down the third leg -- photo credit goes to the gale-force winds for ruining the picture....

Bailey expressing her happiness about being on level ground again, as we start leg 2 again

There's a tradition of writing names around this lake, though I couldn't figure out why... still really cool

Status picture #4: halfway done with leg 1, almost done -- very pleased!!!

Amber and I on solid ground again!!!!

Teeny tiny sign, should've been a lot bigger :P

Waiting for the van to pick us up again... happy to be alive and whole still :)

Looking back at the mountain -- an incredible experience, but very very difficult!

Status picture #5: happy to be sitting and ready to rest up/eat something/shower...

 All in all it was a splendid few adventures we had... We had more on Saturday as well, but I'm at the pub and the Ireland-France rugby game is on, so I'll post about Saturday later!!!

-S