i slept in a bit this morning. It was nice not to have to worry about getting ready for work, but I did want to get out on the trail at a reasonable hour so I ate breakfast and got ready to go.
I listened to music on the drive. I’ve been listening to music in the car instead of audiobooks a lot lately. There are still songs that get me crying, but it’s not as instant of a trigger as it was early on. I do have an audiobook on tap in case of emotional overload. Or if I’m listening via cell signal and I enter a dead zone.
When I was about a mile from my turn, the vehicle ahead of me that was towing a bot pulled over to let me pass. I passed, but only because I couldn’t think of a way to explain that his chivalry was unnecessary with the distance I planned to go. After my turn, I saw turkeys off the road and stopped to take a picture.
I did the same route as last week, leaving from the Brownlee trailhead and going up to the low junction. I was pretty sure there would still be sufficient snow to stop me from trying the loop I want to try since we had precipitation early in the week. And indeed there was snow much lower on the trail than last week. The thick snow started around the same place.
The big difference from last week was the amount of mud. I should have gotten going at least an hour earlier than I had. Then I might not have had to hike through quite so much mud. Much better to hike on frozen mud.
There were footprints in the deep snow. Someone had been up here since I was last, and they spent a LOT of time post-holing. Every print seemed more than knee high on me. The snow was still frozen enough for me to walk on top of it, so I mostly avoided the existing holes. The prints turned off before I reached my turnaround point.
On the way back, I followed them up a small rise to a beautiful view of the mountain ridge across the creek valley from me. Still quite snow-covered. And I could hear the creek rushing, though I couldn’t see the water.
The mud was slick on the way down, but I managed to avoid falling or making big ruts. I finished my 4 plus miles in just under 3 hours. About 1500 feet elevation gain. Those downhill miles sure do go faster than the uphill ones.
After I got home, I showered, lunched, and then headed out for a trash run. Before going home, I went to the store in town to pick up some food for the week. And then I went home for a bit.
I rode my trike into town to feed my friend’s dog. It has been an absolutely gorgeous day. Sunny, but not hot. Everything is so green. It’s one thing seeing it from the car, but on the trike, I’m much more immersed in the landscape. There wasn’t much traffic. The dog was happy to get some treats and dinner.
I was happy to get my own dinner when I got home from that. And then I did my shoulder exercises. I did the ankle ones after lunch, before trash. I’m feeling better for my excursion to the woods. A bit less stressed. I wish I could go up there every day. Even every other day. It’s easy to talk to Ambrose up there.
I’ve got a list of things to get through tomorrow so I should probably get to bed. Big one is taxes. But there’s also cleaning and exercising and feeding the dog and mowing the lawn and trying to fill the holes in the lawn and putting out the wasp trap and- I will get done what I can and just keep swimming.