A Foreboding Night Trek in San Sebastián

Arriving in San Sebastián after the sunset only added to the mystery of this place that I knew close to nothing about. Bilbao was the Northern Spanish city that I knew at least had the Guggenheim and a University, but the only thing I knew about San Sebastián was that I would get to see the ocean again. 

I was traveling to Bilbao and San Sebastián with two of the biggest Spanish History nerds I knew: my friends Benjamin and Grayson. Benjamin studied old Spanish history, specializing in the Arabic influences in Spain. Grayson studied the Spanish language and knew about more recent Spanish history. 

It was this more recent Spanish history that Grayson was telling me about on the bus ride from Bilbao to San Sebastián (which only cost about 9 Euros per person with the Alsa buses and is only an hour and a half bus ride). Benjamin took this time to sleep, considering he knew he wouldn’t get a lot of sleep that night being a light sleeper and sharing a room with Grayson and me. 

With Grayson being a rather quiet person, his passion and excitement as he told me about the recent Spanish political turmoil surprised me. Now, it is not my place to talk about the political climate of a country that is not my own and without the proper background to speak eloquently about it, but I highly recommend anyone interested in learning more to check out these resources: Britannica, History.com, and The Guardian. It is with this new knowledge of Spain and where it came from, that I rode along the coast to this seaside town. 

We arrived at around 7pm (19:00) and the first thing I noted was the ever present roaring of the waves in the night. I was immediately struck with giddiness and excitement to be there! The only other time I can remember the waves creating such a commotion was during my time on the coast of North Carolina (an Eastern, coastal state in the United States) at night walking along the beach, and even then the sound there was muted. These waves sounded hungry and rambunctious, like a pride of lions on the hunt. 

My companions and I resonated with that hungry roar, as we had been walking all day in Bilbao and had just stepped off a bus. Benjamin (the man with the plans), told us that our hostel was “up in the mountains” and that it would be smart to eat down here first and then make our way up there when we wanted to end our night. He apologized for our place of rest being so far out of the way of everything, but assured us that he chose the one with the best price and good reviews. 

Grayson and I trusted in Benjamin to deliver on his word, and together we set out with our full packs to find some food. We found this beautiful, hole in the wall Chinese place called Tsi Tao and it was everything we ever wanted and more. You know how food tastes like a dream when you’re starving? We hardly talked as we ate and enjoyed the warmth and quiet of the restaurant. Once we were done, the walking we had done all day with our heavy packs hit us like a ton of bricks: we were exhausted, our eyelids weighing heavy. 

Grayson and I persuaded Benjamin that taking a taxi up the mountain would be a fair trip expense. But, there was only one person in our trio confident enough in their Spanish to call a taxi; and he was also the most socially reserved. Suffice to say, the hailing of a taxi was not possible. Grayson attempted twice to get a hold of the taxi service to no avail (after two failed attempts, he didn’t have the social energy to call again), and there were no other car services available in this self-sufficient coastal city. 

We were faced with this hard truth: we would have to hike up this mountain, at night, in this city we haven’t been before, and it was going to be through the woods. Benjamin had charted our passage. He went on about how he had found the most direct route, but it wasn’t on any main roads. He said that if we wanted to stay on the main roads, it would take us about two hours to walk up, but if we took these smaller paths, it would only be about 45 minutes. We would be walking on passages that were defined by google maps as “foot only paths”. He told us that this would get us to our beds the quickest and that it would be fine; to his knowledge there was no dangerous wildlife here and that with the three of us together, we would be safe from anything else. 

Now, here I am, a small woman in this situation. I’ve been on these sorts of sketchy adventures before. My philosophy is always: prepare for the worse, expect the best. Upon coming to Spain I learned that pepper spray is illegal to carry as a civilian. So, on this trip, I brought two, bright orange whistles, a small, but powerful LED light that fits on one’s zipper, and my Black Diamond Astro headlamp (I was once caught on a trail at night in the Cascade mountains without a light and now I took it with me on most trips). Tensions were high at this point to get to our beds as soon as possible, hence Benjamin proposing this potentially dangerous plan to hike this mountain through the woods at night. The boys looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to either backout and broach another option, or agree to the plan. 

After taking a deep breath, I agreed to the trip and mentally and physically prepared for the trek. I had my full 25 liter Osprey pack on, which I put the bright green, reflective rain cover over for extra visibility in the dark, tied one of the orange whistles to my zipper and offered Grayson my other one along with my small LED light to tie to himself, then I fastened my Black Diamond headlamp on my head and double checked that I had nothing hanging off of me that would snag on something in the dark. 

Benjamin had little to prepare with his smaller, dark Osprey pack on. He would be in the front of the pack leading the way with his phone GPS, counting on me in the middle providing the light for him to see with my headlamp, and Grayson would bring up the back with his smaller light showing the way. 

And with that, we were off. Our path had us hopping off the main road quickly, and started up these very well lit stairs. They were very steep, but I was hopeful that my headlamp would be unnecessary, as on either side of the stairs were people’s backyards, soccer fields, and every step was lit with street lights. We kept up light banter, teasing each other for huffing and puffing. I had the heaviest bag and fell behind, but I ushered them on and refused their offers to help carry anything (I’m too proud for my own good).

It felt like I had spent an eternity on these stairs, but in reality it was probably only about 20 minutes. Benjamin kept a quick pace, charging ahead, Grayson made sure to keep an eye over his shoulder for me, and paused often for me to catch up. We exchanged some pointed looks about the state of our party and how quickly Benjamin suggested such an extreme plan. Grayson and I got really good at communicating any particular emotion with just a look this trip. I mentally noted that Benjamin was the type of travel buddy that wouldn’t mind sacrificing comfort for the privilege of time management and “the most direct route”. I admired his stamina, but cursed his safety standards. 

I mentally rejoiced when I saw the end of the stairs! It had us come out on another road. I saw a street lamp! And as I huffed my way to the top of the stairs, I realized with a belly flop of emotion that it was only one street lamp. Looking left and right, this road, framed by thick, still foliage, was pitch black. I couldn’t see up the road more than five feet in either direction from the yellow light of the single street light. 

My mouth fell open, Benjamin let out a quick chuckle, and Grayson wore a very pointed look on his face that shouted his discomfort at this scenario. 

There was nowhere else for us to go but up, we couldn’t go back now. I clicked on my headlamp and it shot out bright and fierce, cutting through the blackness with a comforting sharpness. 

Benjamin continued to lead the way as we turned right up the road, a steady incline letting us know we were still heading up the mountain. At least it wasn’t as taxing as the stairs that seemed to head straight up, but we approached the part of this journey that was uncomfortable for a whole new reason. 

I asked Grayson if he had ever seen The Blair Witch Project. He said yes. Benjamin wasn’t a movie person. The trees that aligned the street were dark and twisty, they seemed to have spiky fingers waving at us as we went on. I strained to listen for the sound of something walking on loose rocks and stacking them. 

Grayson and I walked side by side and he kept his smaller light on, just in case. There was less talking on this leg of our journey. I was trying not to see shapes in the darkness, but kept my head on a swivel for any movement, while also keeping a steady direction ahead for Benjamin to see where he was walking, as my headlamp was the only thing keeping us from absolute darkness. Grayson seemed to be doing the same, but was being more subtle about it. Benjamin kept up his fast pace, not seeming to be thwarted at all by the vibe of our surroundings. I couldn’t decide if it was bravery or a lack of an imagination that protected him from the eerie setting. 

We walked for another 20 minutes, and I kept hoping for Benjamin to announce that he saw something or that we were here. Instead, we came upon this large wooden archway that was off to our right. Benjamin read it, and apparently he not only couldn’t find where it was on the map, but he couldn’t recognize where we were on the map. 

Grayson and I remained silent as we waited for Benjamin to re-coordinate where we were and in which direction we needed to go. Keep in mind that Benjamin was just as proud as I was about help, and insisted that he didn’t need any in plotting our trail to the hostel. 

We continued up the incline, until we came upon more stairs to our left. Benjamin started up the stairs, and we followed. These stairs, as I would better see with the light of day, were moss covered and slimy. They were maybe 7 feet wide and framed by the forest that had been keeping us gloomy company this entire hike. I kept a steady, slow foot, but it seemed that Grayson was overcome with the urge to be out of the woods as quickly as possible, and basically ran up the stairs at Benjamin’s pace. I had no problem keeping slow. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than slipping and falling down these stairs in the dark forest where I didn’t know if anyone would find us. 

These stairs ran out quicker than their more well lit neighbors and we were again on a dark, paved road. Benjamin started to the right, and again we continued up the steady incline. My hands became numb with cold and that made me wonder if we were high enough for a temperature drop. This road curved to the left as it went up, which at least gave me some comfort that there was some sort of direction we were going that wasn’t just deeper into the mountains. 

My brain played cruel tricks on me.I wondered what would be worse: if we stumbled upon someone else walking up this road, or if we didn’t. I actively tried not to think about it, but I was also certain that I couldn’t feel the cold chill that probably ran up my spine at the thought, considering I could now see my breath as I walked. 

Just when I started to imagine what our True Crime podcast would sound like when they found our bodies in the woods, I saw a light ahead of us. It was small and on the ground, but it was accompanied by more lights that seemed to outline a walkway down somewhere. Benjamin said that he was sure this was it and I was giddy with relief. I picked up my pace, which made my feet ache in protest, but I didn’t care. The thought of a hot shower and a warm bed was overwhelming. 

The now lit path led us down to this parking lot with a couple of empty, dark cars sitting in it. I tried not to see this scene as ominous, but it was very hard after walking an hour in the dark forest. We now all seemed to possess the rushed pace of Benjamin as we hurried through this parking lot and were greeted with the sight of this large building not too far in the distance that was the most inviting place I think I’ve ever seen. It was a simple, yellow square-shaped building nestled in the woods with the name of our hostel on a wooden sign planted next to it. 

I let out a shout of triumph! Benjamin kept trying to tell us that he knew where he was going all along and that we worried too much. Grayson let out a relieved laugh and figured there must be an easier way to get up here. We agreed to look into it once we were settled. Overall the hike took us about an hour and 15 minutes. 

The hostel was charming and had a feel of a stay-away camp from when you were little. Our room had two bunk-beds, a full bathroom, and a large set of lockers for our things. We sat up for a bit and chatted in quick, energetic tones as we were still coming down from the violent relief of finishing our tense trek. But, once we all showered, we climbed into bed and immediately fell silent. As I settled in, I realized and voiced my fear that if we didn’t find a cheap way to get up and down this mountain, we would have to make that same hike 3 more times: twice down and once more up, as we planned to stay 2 nights in San Sebastián. Benjamin and Grayson had seemed to already come to this conclusion, and settled on finding comfort in the fact that we’ve done it successfully once already. 

I was not so easily satisfied by that, but I fell asleep before I could spend any more energy worrying about it. 

This was originally going to be a post about the sights that I saw on my first night in San Sebastián, but upon telling this story I realized that I didn’t take any pictures of our hike up the mountain because I was too scared and didn’t want to look down for a second. Also, it was at night and there was nothing to see but dark forest lit by my headlamp. Which, I now realize, would’ve been a cool shot. But, I suppose I’m going to find myself in similar situations as I have become comfortable with our traveling trio and see myself planning another trip with them soon. 

A couple of notes I would like people to take away from this story are:

• DON’T hike at night up a mountain in a city you do not know (we were very lucky)
• DON’T wait until last minute to plan how you are going to get to your bed at night
• DO bring a headlamp or flashlight wherever you go (you never know when you’re going to need it. And you’d rather have it and not need it than vice versa),
• DO always bring twice the amount of socks than you think you need. On one of our treks down the mountain, it began to rain, and let me tell you: I was incredibly thankful that I had a pair of dry socks.

Yes, this was a dramatic start to our two nights in San Sebastián, but the remainder of the trip was nothing less of an enchanting, entertaining, and exciting travel adventure. 

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