| | I wanted to post tonight about my amazing hike...an hour's worth of big time cardio as I walked in the foothills for two miles.
It started at 6:00ish, with my sister's dog Daisy, who is a blue Australian shepherd just a year old and a ball of energy. My sister is athletic and jogs these trails east of town...I am not, so I hike at best, and generally go slow. Daisy was a silver bullet, racing along as fast as possible, and then stopping and either running back to me or just standing in the trail ahead, her tongue out and head to one side "You coming? Why you going so slow? mom runs...run! run!" she seemed to say.
The trail I chose is moderate. That is, lots of good uphills, dispersed with lots of level and some downhills, through grasses and scrub oak. With the mountain on my left, and a western sun and town to my right, it was very nice, and Daisy kept me laughing with her antics. It was challenging enough to get "the pain taste" a couple of times, and got my heart rate right up there once or twice, but pleasant in the October evening. The sky to the east was SO blue! and the oak leaves on the trail made that soft, crisp sound as I walked through them.
At about one mile, I turned around. Daisy was dropped off, and the sun was just going down. This is where it gets interesting. There is a golf course that lies just west of the foothill trails, and I ended up WEST of the golf course...not where I wanted to be...so, finding it wide open, I went into the golf course! No one was golfing, so I just marched in. Kept on going northerly and trying to get back to the trails east of the course, which also meant climbing some mighty hills! Seriously, they GOLF on these slopes? But i kept on going, wondering how to get back to the trail.
At one point, I had to get across a little crick...oh! it smelled like spice at that place! There were aspen trees, oaks, birch, and together in their Autumn glory they had the most amazing fragrance. I was standing on big stones in the crick, with the sounds of trickling water and gentle
"end of season" crickets and the amazing scent of autumn trees. A benediction!
Then the serious business of getting to the trail was at hand. After that moment of sweetness by the water, the sky wasn't as light as it had been, and I was wondering how on earth to get out of the golf course and to the trail...and not looking forward to it, in the dark. But I knew my general direction (it's easy in this area: the mountains are ALWAYS east, so north and south follow readily and of course, town to the west) and I was parked to the north and east of this GOLF COURSE! argh!
Now I was tired, though. I'd been walking hard for 45 minutes or so, and going uphill to get to the trail was pushing it. But I kept on going. What was I gonna do? sit and wait? The hike had started out as something pleasant and interesting to do with a free evening, and now it had turned into the discipline of taking one step after another and not stopping until I got where I was going.
Actually, this is one of my favorite aspects of long walks: you get really tired and want to quit, but you simply CAN'T. The only way to be done with it, even when your feet are hurting and your thighs are in burn mode and your heart is pounding hard, is to keep putting your feet down in front of each other. Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. that is the only way to finish: keep putting one foot after another on the ground, until you get where you're going. So, I say the hike began pleasant and ended in the self-discipline of finishing what I'd started, but not stopping is SO good. The pleasure of a wander in the woods gives way to the amazing sense of accomplishment that comes ONLY by getting to the end of it. Finishing is a different pleasure from beginning.
One is fresh and sweet, with a lot of attention to the beauty around and a pure enjoyment of the cool air and the blue sky, yellow leaves, whispering crickets. Sheer enjoyment simply because of being out and walking in God's good earth. The other is sweaty and loud with hard breath and pounding heart and problem solving and focus, ignoring the tinge in the left ankle to just keep on moving. It is a fierce and powerful pleasure, the pleasure of getting there.
So, I climbed the sloping green to the east border of the golf course and found it fenced. I almost cried. Looking to the north, i could see the apartment building that marks the parking lot at my trailhead...but I couldn't get to the trail, because of a 7 foot fence. Meanwhile, I was walking on plush grass that was pretty easy on the ole feet,so it could have been worse.
Then I came to a place where I could see a golf cart road going up a really steep hill, or I could turn and go up a less daunting slope in the opposite direction. I said a little prayer "Lord, help me find my way" and went up the lesser incline even though it wasn't in the direction I was aiming for. The light was quite dim, but not yet dark as I came to a rough place full of trees and the fence...would I have to climb it? seriously?...then, looking along the fence, i saw an opening! It was a little open gateway, just wide enough for a person to pass through, and I did! Now I was on the trail, level and broad, and aiming directly at the 29th Street Trailhead, and just barely light enough to see where I was putting my feet.
Sweating, breathing hard, and feeling really good, I came home and showered and was I ever beautiful to behold in the mirror. Strong, rosey, tousled and SO happy to be home!
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| | Posted 10/22/2009 11:56 PM - 8 Views - 2 eProps - 2 comments
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