Day 9 - Killarney National Park

 We were at the pub downtown to pick up our shuttle to Ross Castle by 10:15. It had just stopped raining, but despite the patches of blue sky, it was a cold morning with a strong wind. Families of American tourists were also waiting for the shuttle with the intentions of hiking Dunloe Gap, however, they were severely under dressed and were clearly re-thinking the items they chose to pack for their trip. One tourist from Utah said to me, “Ah, you look nice and warm. Properly dressed and all. We packed for summer, thinking June would be warm here.” All she had was a lightweight hoodie. Don’t people in Utah know about weather apps?!?!?

The shuttle dropped us off at Ross Castle. The wind was whipping across the lake making it bitterly cold. The clouds above definitely held the threat of rain. We made our way to the boat dock and boarded the little red boat, which would take us to the top of the 3 lakes to the Dunloe Gap trailhead. 

 During our boat ride, we experienced every weather pattern. At times the lake was extremely choppy and at other times was quietly still. The mountains surrounding the lake were awash in purple. The rhododendrons were in full bloom. The flower is not a native species and has overtaken the park. It was introduced in 1855 in preparation for Queen Victoria's scheduled visit...6 years later in 1861. They felt “she would want to see some color on the mountains.” One Mountain is actually named “Purple Mountain” because it is covered in the rhododendrons. Our boat driver also pointed out a small cottage that was built for Queen Victoria’s visit but unfortunately, “she did not like it and went to stay at Muckross House instead for two nights.” Queen Victoria is accredited with bring tourism to Ireland. When I tried to share some fun facts about Filoli Mansion where I lived and that the family who built it was from Muckross House, I got a slight acknowledgement and then a snub. There would be no more fun facts on the boat.

It took about 2 hours to make our way up through the lakes and connecting rivers until we reached Lord Brandon’s Cottage. We had a quick lunch and then set off to hike the 7.5 miles up and through the Dunloe Gap. When I had done this hike before, I had started at the opposite end and done it in reverse. So the switchback that I had once casually meandered down was now an uphill excursion. However, the views were stunning and their were fields of iris in full bloom. The weather would quickly change from cold & windy, to windy and rainy, and then for a brief moment, the sun would come out and lull us into a false sense of warmth and the idea of possible layer removal.

We talked to hikers along the way. Most of the people on our boat chose to take the Jaunting Carts over the Gap rather than walk. The horses pulling their carts took the mountain at a fast pace. Once we reached the top, the valley sprawled down below. It was much nicer walking down this side with the valley view. There were many waterfalls running and the sheep were all busy finding the tastiest grass. There were many newborn lambs too. I wanted to squeeze them all.

We had been casually stopping along the way to take photos and talk to the sheep, when I realized the time. Our shuttle was scheduled to pick us up at 4:00 and it was already 3:15. By my estimates we were a little over 2 miles from our pickup location. The last 2 miles were relatively flat. At one point, Matt asked, “So do you know where we are? Did we miss a turn? How much farther? I doubt they would leave without us.” There is only one very narrow road and we were on it. I knew where Kate’s Cottage was, and if we were to make it on time, we had to pick up our pace and stop the photo ops.

We reached Kate Kearney’s Cottage by 4:15. The shuttle was not there, but some of the hikers we started out with in the morning were there waiting, so we figured our driver was on Irish Time. While waiting for the shuttle, I chatted up a couple from the UK. They were camping their way through Ireland. When I told her we were going to Scotland afterwards she said, “Oh the Irish are much more friendly to us Brits. Right now I would not dare show my face in Scotland. They want to break from the UK, but they also just voted in a large majority of Scottish Politian’s into our Parliament. They want the best of both worlds and they cannot have it.” She seemed very surprised that I brought up the fact that if Scotland leaves the UK, they would no longer be apart of the EU and that Scotland was petitioning for a unanimous vote so that they could not be “kicked out” of the EU. She did not think Americans new much about politics other than their own, so I think I impressed her. She did not have any idea how it would all turn out.

The shuttle finally arrived. We boarded, but there were some backpackers that slipped the driver 5 euro each and came onto our PRE_BOOKED shuttle service. There were still some hikers in our group that had not arrived yet, so he was basically selling their seats. Things got a bit dicey when the hikers who had pre-booked the shuttle ride back to town, boarded only to find teenage boys in their seats who had not seen a shower in a few days. As expected, the Americans not-so-tactfully announced loudly that the driver had sold their seats. There was some further discussion about another shuttle coming to get them, but in the end, the backpackers were booted off, refunded their under that table cash and the American Family from Utah triumphantly boarded the shuttle back to town. Note: the 20-something male of this family from Utah is responsible for the sheep quote below.

It had been a long but fun day. Our cheeks were red from windburn and our legs had gotten a good workout. After dinner, we walked around town on last time, did some grocery shopping and settled in for the night.

Embarrassing American Quotes of the Day:
American: “Can we get refills on our cokes?”
Burger King Employee: “No.”
American: “Well in America, the soda fountain is out here in front of the counter and we can refill it as much as we want. I take my 48oz cup and refill it every time before I go. You should set it up that way.”
(BTW, no apologies for hitting up Burger King for dinner….sometimes you just need a cheap burger combo meal deal.)
American First Grade Teacher: “Is gas more expensive here than it is in the states? It’s in liters, so I can’t figure it out.”
American Kid: (to the bus driver) “Hey do you own a sheep?”
Bus driver: “No, but I have a wife. She keeps me sheered.”

Embarrassing photo pose done by a tourist and reenacted by Matt in the same location: