European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 20, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Mediterranean sea Quot Quot 1 ree it Athens Sav Tkv 1 i. \ \ of area ertl arged -.15. Cret Iraklion a amps map. Peter Jaeger a few stunted Trees cling precariously to the Bare Rock Walls rising from the floor of Crete s . By j. King Cruces Mediterranean Bureau god must be a hiker. Maybe not but there s Strong evidence that the big Eye in the sky keeps watch Over hikers to save them from their own stupidity. A a a Little help from on High thousands of a shabbily shod hikers would t have a snowball s Chance in hell of emerging unscathed from a grueling trek through the . The Gorge one of Europe s longest and perhaps most Beautiful Cleaves the. A mountains of southwestern Crete Greece s largest Island. Ruggedly handsome Crete is riddled with dramatic and likeable Gorges and none is More impressive than. Samaria. A a a a a a a a a a. Crete is As hot As a caldron from mid june to mid september. Yet summer Sun slowly simmers the brains of tourists and natives alike thousands of folks who would t ordinarily dream of hiking queue up to. Stream Lemming like Down the Gorge. A a we joined up to do the Samaria shuffle on a searing sunday last August. At Dawn s Early Light hundreds of fellow would be shufflers milled about the bus station in Chania Crete s second largest City. We boarded a caravan of buses and bumped and swayed Ever upward for two hours. We came at last to the 3,610-foot-High Plain of of Milos and the lip of the Gorge. We had been forewarned to be hatted to have sturdy footwear and to tote water bottles. We wore hats had to make do with running shoes a. Mistake and ignored the advice about the water a huge mistake. ,. A. A ,. A a the first stage of the 11-mile descent of the Gorge is. Precipitous and for its first mile and a Quarter is bordered by a Handrail. The path dubbed the wooden staircase has More switchbacks than a convention of cobras. Each Stair is filled with Slippery baseball sized boulders. The Samaria shufflers picked their Way through the. Boulder Field. My running shoes hardly proper footwear for such a demanding slog were absolutely state of the Art compared with some of the ridiculous footwear on a. Parade. Flip flops on a Young German Guy. Sandals on an English girl. And there May Fortuna look after her is an italian woman 60 if she s a Day Teeter tottering along atop 2-Inch High heels. A. Below the wooden staircase Sharp rocks Stab through the Trail s packed dirt surface. The Gorge opens up to showcase 6,500-foot-High mountains. Herbs scent the air. The vistas Are glorious. The heat is awful with the temperature Well into the 90s. Thirst grows with every. Step. Why did t i bring a water bottle where is the Halk Vay House and its Promise of water at last 1 stagger into the rest area. Water trickles from a single spigot. It is surrounded by hikers trying to refill their containers. I cup my Dusty Palms thrust them through 6 stripes Magazine june 20, 1991
