Hiking

[Catrin]

That's great, Catrin. What a milestone for you!

What are "armored crossings"?

These are mountain bike trails I'm hiking, and at least around here, they are literally carved out of the side of the hill/ridge, usually by hand. I've helped build them So think about the trail climbing up/down following the side of the hill or ridge rather than going up and over the hill. Of course there are fall lines and actual stream crossings that intersect the trails, and these areas are lined with rocks to assist draining and to allow the area to dry more quickly. Here is a post on the Hoosier MTB Association page that discusses this and include pictures (in Indiana all MTB trails are built and maintained by volunteers). Usually these areas are quite short but sometimes they are longer sections depending upon the landscape. These are sometimes easier to ride than to walk, especially when wet

I've also figured out the route that I'm leading some friends on a hike next weekend! It won't be the same trail, but that same park has 28 miles of MTB trails and each trail has a different character - though they are all full of switchbacks. Many of those miles are VERY remote, so a good map or knowledge of exactly how the trails interact is very important.

[emily_in_nc]

Thank you for the info and link, Catrin! We have seen spots like this before on trails but did not know they had a formal name. Good to know!

[emily_in_nc]

I just put up a blog post on one of the excellent hikes we did recently (actually, three weeks ago now, but my blog is behind the times):

http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/t...charlton-trail

[Catrin]

Nice, thanks for the link!

Well over 90 today, and it also happened to be the day for the local Pride Parade and Festival (over 100K show up every year). SO THANKFUL for all the lessons I've learned on how to deal with the heat from both riding and hiking. In the end I walked about 6 miles on pavement in the heat - as well as just hanging out in it for hours. Frozen hydration pack, and a huge bottle of Salt Stick Buffered Electrolytes in my hydration pack. I've pretty good endurance for the heat, but was flagging seriously by the time I got back to my car after ~6 hours in the heat. Drank almost 2 liters of water, and shared some of my electrolyte caps with someone I knew who seriously needed it as well as taking some myself. I suspect more people were drinking alcohol in the heat than water, but was thankful I handled it the way I did. I'm not going back outside again today.

To give an idea of how hot I really was, after walking the ~2 miles from the festival back to my car, I stepped into a lovely ice cream place I know across from my parking lot. It didn't feel any cooler inside the store than it did outside. I really wanted ice cream but was afraid it would be too cold, given how hot I was. There is a fancy term for combining ice cream with hot coffee (they cool the coffee off a bit first). Premium coffee from a local roaster over a nice serving of craft Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream was perfect. Not too cold, not too hot, and it breathed new life into my overheated body until I could get home. Pity I can't end my hikes out in the woods in such a wonderful fashion It also passed for lunch, I figured that was a better choice than festival food in the heat...

[emily_in_nc]

Mmmm, that coffee + ice cream drink sounded like a perfect ending to your day in the heat, Catrin! Glad you did okay. Too few folks know how to deal with hydration in this kind of heat.

[Catrin]

Mmmm, that coffee + ice cream drink sounded like a perfect ending to your day in the heat, Catrin! Glad you did okay. Too few folks know how to deal with hydration in this kind of heat.

I only know from my long bike rides on country roads in 90+ degree temps :-)

The drink is called affogato and looks like this. Well mine was in plastic and the coffee poured from a plastic cup after they brewed/cooled it and it wasn't mint chocolate chip ice cream but you get the idea. Coffee was very strong. Wonderfully refreshing - far more than either ingredient would have been solo. Sorry for the size of the image, as it is from a link I can't change the size.

[Pax]

That looks delicious!!

Glad you stayed well hydrated. I've seen many young people at pride chugging beer all day in high heat, always wonder how they manage that, I can't drink enough water let alone drink beer!