Butterfly Valley Hike

The days spent in paradise are flying by it seems.  Each day is amazing, and after serving breakfast for everyone, I spend the days off exploring, swimming, hiking and enjoying life and nature.  Pretty crazy to be quite content in one place after 5 months of bouncing around the world.  But when everything you need is here, and with the work I do, the meals are provided for, I stay in the area.

Today I decided to trek off to the next big valley nearby, about 5 miles away, Butterfly Valley.  Pretty nice hike along the way to get to the top of the valley, passing grape and pomegranate trees along the way to stock up on my fruit intake.  Amazing views along the way as always, with the Mediterranean Sea surrounded by trees, rocks and islands.  It still feels like summer time here, both weather-wise and the fact that with all the pine trees, not many leaves have changed colors yet.

Steep trekking!

Hey mom, I've got my hand on the rope for safety!

Butterfly Canyon is named for the butterflies who have made the bottom their home.  It's quite a drop down from the top, around 1000 feet.  The trail is there, but half the time it isn't really a trail.  More of a rock face that you go down rather quickly.  It felt more like rock climbing and abseiling than hiking.  There were ropes bolted into the rock that allowed you to go 6 feet forward and 30 feet down.  So the hike down went pretty fast, and the view got better and better.

The Beach!

1 of at least 20 paragliders who were flying around and landing

Stick that landing!

On the bottom, there were waterfalls at the start of the canyon, and at the end, was a wide open beach where paragliders were landing, and people were hanging out at a cafe.  The last few days, the water has been very calm, and clear.  Today was just the same, and this beach was less rocky than others, so I hung out for a while, as I waited for my friends Erica and Peter to hike down. 

Later on, I hiked back up the steepness of the canyon, and a few miles back towards my home, I went down another canyon to a secluded beach which had been recommended to me.  Perfect spot to rest up and enjoy life, plus get some rock jumping in.  Been a great day, hiking over 10 miles and amazing the locals I work with once again.  They're impressed by how much I've seen in my 8 days here so far.  That's what I'm all about.  See the area and enjoy life!