I did not get the early start that I planned on. I woke up around 3 this morning and had a hard time getting back to sleep, which threw off the rest of the day. I did get up and get moving a bit after 6, but I thought about skipping the hike. I could just stay home and bake the rest of the pumpkin and write and have a chill day.
But this may be the last weekend that I’d be able to hike up. There will be snow on the peak soon. I pushed myself to get ready and get out the door. I made it to the trailhead just before 9 am and set off on the trail not long after.
To my surprise, my car did not alert to low tire pressure despite the freezing temperatures. I’ll probably have to top the tires off soon, but for now they’re doing okay.
At the trailhead, the leaves were golden and pumpkin orange, but as I hiked up I saw more bare branches than colored leaves. Plus plentiful green needles on the evergreens. Snow began to appear less than two miles up, but just in small patches in sheltered areas. I actually encountered more mud than snow on the trail overall.
I try not to hike on muddy trails, but I decided to make an exception for this trip. The gray days of November haven’t started yet, but they are due to arrive soon. Rain and clouds down where I am will be snow and sleet up there. Some of this trail would be hikeable in the snow, but not all of it. There will definitely come a point where it will be closed for me.
More snow patches appeared as I got higher. I thought about that first time that Ambrose and I hiked this trail. He didn’t believe that I was going to get him up a mountain. He thought it would be too far for him. And then we were there, and he was so happy at me. For pushing him, and believing in him.
The peak itself had snow all around it. I followed a set of footprints on the road for a bit before realizing that there were prints going up to the peak but none coming back. Where had they gone? There were two sets of boot prints going up, plus a dog. I’m not sure how they got down, but it wasn’t the way they came.
I wore long underwear under my pants for this hike, and I’m glad I did. The air got quite frigid up at the peak. I was warm enough with the exertion of hiking uphill that I had taken my down jacket off before I summitted, but when I left the peak I put it back on, because I wasn’t going to generate as much body heat going downhill.
I thought I might end up slipping in the mud and getting my pants dirty, but I was careful and did not fall down. I slid a few times, but no falls, thank goodness. My knees both had some pain on the downhill. I’m not sure why. It could be just the relentless downhill plus the careful steps on the muddy sections.
It was a relief to get back to the car, and an even bigger relief once I got home to get in the shower. Though before I could shower, I cleaned the mud off my gaiters and boots. And first thing I did my midday eye drop. Then hot shower! And a late lunch, and then it was time to get more pumpkin in the oven.
I had to toss most of a batch yesterday because I accidentally burned it, but I had four more batches today so I’m using most of the pumpkin. I’ve got one batch in the fridge for eating this week and the rest are in the freezer. I’ve got two batches of pumpkin seeds in the dehydrator. They’ll go until at least tomorrow afternoon, maybe tomorrow evening.
Family zoom was nice today, except I’m getting a migraine. The period seems to be coming, which means migraine will also be coming. I mean, it’s nice that it’s predictable, but also terrible because it hurts. A lot. Maybe it will just go away overnight. That would be nice.
I’m not sure what I did, but I have some itchy welts on my right wrist. Only a little reddish, but raised. And very itchy. I’ll put some hydrocortisone on them before bed.
Getting up that mountain was hard. I thought about turning back several times, but I kept going. I also thought about bringing my brother on that hike, and how he’d probably be faster than me. I thought about what I’d tell him about ranging ahead, like he’d have to wait for me at break time, and on the way back down I’d let him go as fast as he wanted from the junction. Like Ambrose did for me.
