A "training" hike in preparation for this weekend
Auld Pro invited me to join him and Tamarisk Basher for a long hike this weekend. I decided to go for a walk today to see how far I might be able to hike. I don't want to commit to joining them if I cannot complete the entire hike. I also don't want to slow them down.
My goal was the trailhead for the Lawson caches, a distance of about five miles. I carried plastic bags with me, collecting cans and bottles along the way. The area I have walked is still clear, but as soon as I passed where I have been before, I scored beer cans, beer bottles, Gatorade bottles, Arrowhead water bottles, and many other recyclable items.
Down the road to the east of Four Corners, I saw a sad sight in the middle of the opposite lane. A dead bobcat . . . He looked like he was just sleeping there, stretched out as he was in a comfortable position. Poor thing. I walked across the road and pulled him off to the side so he wouldn't get run over by an inattentive driver.
On my return trip, I saw another dead critter, a beautiful kingsnake.
It is sad to see two beautiful wildlife specimens killed along the same stretch of little-used road.
I finally got to the Lawson trailhead, after stopping to talk to a bicyclist for a while, and started back. At the Barrett Lake entrance, I stashed my two full and heavy kitchen-sized trash bags of cans and bottles hoping they will still be there when I go back in my car to pick them up someday . . .
When I got to Four Corners and had two-and-a-half miles left to walk, I got a bit of a second wind, but physical pain is hard to overcome, even when the walk is along familiar territory. Both my hips were hurting, not just the left hip that frequently bothers me.
By the time I got home, four hours after I started out, thorough evidence, including fatigue and physical pain, accompanied every step. So, after today's "training" walk, I've determined that ten miles is my limit. If I had been hiking a trail, with my trekking poles as aids, that distance might have been extended by a mile or two.
My Vista HCx reported the ten-mile distance as more than 12 miles, but I'm quite sure the Tracks are more accurate than the Trip Computer. When I send the GPSr in for repair of the speaker, I hope the one they send to replace this one will be more accurate at recording the distance.
UPDATE July 21: Well, I finally decided to drive my car and when I got the the place where I stashed the two bags of cans and bottles, they were gone . . . :-( Oh Well! I hope the person who picked them up needed the reclycling money just as bad as I did . . .
My goal was the trailhead for the Lawson caches, a distance of about five miles. I carried plastic bags with me, collecting cans and bottles along the way. The area I have walked is still clear, but as soon as I passed where I have been before, I scored beer cans, beer bottles, Gatorade bottles, Arrowhead water bottles, and many other recyclable items.
Down the road to the east of Four Corners, I saw a sad sight in the middle of the opposite lane. A dead bobcat . . . He looked like he was just sleeping there, stretched out as he was in a comfortable position. Poor thing. I walked across the road and pulled him off to the side so he wouldn't get run over by an inattentive driver.
On my return trip, I saw another dead critter, a beautiful kingsnake.
It is sad to see two beautiful wildlife specimens killed along the same stretch of little-used road.
I finally got to the Lawson trailhead, after stopping to talk to a bicyclist for a while, and started back. At the Barrett Lake entrance, I stashed my two full and heavy kitchen-sized trash bags of cans and bottles hoping they will still be there when I go back in my car to pick them up someday . . .
When I got to Four Corners and had two-and-a-half miles left to walk, I got a bit of a second wind, but physical pain is hard to overcome, even when the walk is along familiar territory. Both my hips were hurting, not just the left hip that frequently bothers me.
By the time I got home, four hours after I started out, thorough evidence, including fatigue and physical pain, accompanied every step. So, after today's "training" walk, I've determined that ten miles is my limit. If I had been hiking a trail, with my trekking poles as aids, that distance might have been extended by a mile or two.
My Vista HCx reported the ten-mile distance as more than 12 miles, but I'm quite sure the Tracks are more accurate than the Trip Computer. When I send the GPSr in for repair of the speaker, I hope the one they send to replace this one will be more accurate at recording the distance.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
UPDATE July 21: Well, I finally decided to drive my car and when I got the the place where I stashed the two bags of cans and bottles, they were gone . . . :-( Oh Well! I hope the person who picked them up needed the reclycling money just as bad as I did . . .
posted by Miragee at
5:40:00 PM
10-Day Forecast
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