Girls Gone Isled: Killarney National Park

Today we had a lovely pastoral adventure through Killarney National Park. Which involved getting lost. And hiking 14 miles.

We started the day off in the hostel's dining room for breakfast, where I made the grave error of mistaking Canadians for Americans. I had heard the couple at the table over from us speaking accented but fluent French. I also heard them reverting to English, which was spoken without an accent. They were also eating peanut butter with their breakfast, which I have never seen any French person do, ever. Given my information, I felt it safe to assume they were American study abroad students who were practicing their french. At the very least, she was French (I couldn't hear her well because her back was turned), and he was American. Anywho, I go up to their table and made some haughty comment (in French) about how I figured out their American-ness by the peanut butter on their table. Boy did I feel like an idiot to hear they were Quebecois. Whelp, serves me right for making an assumption and being pretentious.

Thirty minutes later Ellen and I were across the street at the grocery buying a lunch of meats, cheeses, and baguette for our proposed hike into Killarney National Park. We had planned to take the bus from Killarney into the park, but as it was not high tourist season there was no bus. Therefore, we would be hoofing it 3 miles just to get there. Once there we planned to see Muckross Abbey and Muckross House before heading back to town in the early afternoon. We were assured by the hostel's front deskman that it wouldn't take more than 2 hours to do the whole trip.

So we started off down Muckross Road towards the park. It was a gorgeous morning; the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, a slight breeze blew.

We made it to the entrance of the park 40 minutes after we set out. It was around 11:30 at this time. Initially Ellen and I both remarked on how much the grounds reminded us of Holliday Park in Indianapolis. By noon we reached Muckross Abbey, an old Franciscan Friary which was simply stunning. Visitors were welcome to explore the place so Ellen and I got right in. There were some awesome nooks and crannies as well as a second and third level.

We pressed on, this time with the goal of reaching Muckross House. We had seen pictures of it online; it had a beautiful lawn and just beyond sat the lake. Ellen and I had no proper park map, but a good idea of where the house was. The paths were also fairly well marked. We followed a lake path, all the time keeping the lake on out right as we headed south. We came across a fork in the road and took the right fork (which stayed closer to the lake), believing that all paths would eventually lead to the house. So long as we kept the lake on our right, we would stumble upon the house. Or so we thought.

A half hour later I began to doubt our bearings. An hour later we came through some trees and found water on out left, at which point I knew we'd done something wrong. We whipped out the tiny, stark map of Killarney National Park in Ellen's Frommer's Guide and I deduced that we had made out way onto the pennisula between two of the park's lakes. We had the option of turning back or pressing forward to make a massive loop. It was decided we would make a loop. This would afford us a chance to see Muckross house as we rounded back as well as see some of the park's other attractions.

We stopped for lunch in a yew forest, so chosen for its profusion of moss, which was great for resting one's weary tush upon. Ellen discovered a veritable toadstool of moss. I'd say the verdant layer was at least 6 in. thick--cushy stuff.

Shortly after lunch we came across Dinis Cottage and 'The Meeting of the Waters," which was supposed to be this terrifically scenic view of the lakes flowing into one another. It wasn't anything to write home about, so I'm going to stop there. We then took a small detour to see Torc Waterfall. Really the only thing of note there was a group of rude Spanish teenagers. It reminded me of one of those pull-off 'scenic spots' found on the side of the road at National Parks. It's full of fatty tourists not willing to take a real hike and the 'attraction' typically isn't that spectacular. In fact, it should be noted that Killarney National Park and its gateway town of Killarney much resemble Smokey Mountain National Park and Gatlinburg.

After Torc, we finally made it to Muckross House and Ellen and I basked on the lawn as the sun went down. It was still a solid 4 miles back to town, but at least we knew where we were going this time around. We made it to our hostel around 6 and made a quick meal of pasta (which would have been an enjoyable process had it not been for a bunch of gawking Chinese tourists fascinated with our struggle to uncork our wine without the use of a bottle opener), which was devoured most readily. Back in the room before bed, we estimated our round trip had been about 14 miles. But if I were forced to choose a place where I would be willing to hike 14 miles, Killarney NP would certainly be it.

Okay, so see the little brown sign with the tree in it near Muckross House? We meant to go to the house and make it there by lunch. Instead we took the path that goes around the entirety of middle lake. We should have been to Muckross House around 12:30 pm. Instead we got there around 4 pm.

We were pretty excited to have actually found the park entrance. It was touch-and-go there for a while.

We thought the opening green of the park looked exactly like Holliday Park in Indy.

The ruins at Holliday Park aren't this cool though. This is Muckross Abbey, built in the 16th century.

The fireplace is on the second floor and is massive. Apparently many kitchens back in the day were built on the second floor so that if something caught fire, the whole damn building didn't go down.