Hiking

[emily_in_nc]

Teehee, nothing is wrong with you, Crankin, but I suspect most of those folks scrambling in sandals are 1) 20-30 years younger and 2) Been doing it for a lot longer than you. Give yourself a break -- you're out there doing your best, and that's way better than most people sitting on their couch eating potato chips! So, congratulations! Sounds like you did a difficult hike and made it! Yay you!

We actually did another hike today. There has been unseasonably cool weather here in western Iowa for the holiday weekend; otherwise, we would not have been hiking. In fact, I thought our hiking was through for the summer, as I mentioned in a couple posts back. Yesterday was raining with a high of 61, so we did nothing at all, but today it was overcast and slowly rose from upper 50s to low 70s but with quite a bit of breeze, so we decided to postpone our planned bike ride 'til tomorrow, which is going to be warmer and sunnier, and hike instead. Just a short one of a little over 4 miles, but very pretty, and nice to be on a trail in the state park where we only saw two other people vs. in the very busy campground section where we're staying, with kids everywhere, biking up and down the road in front of us, walking, scootering, etc. A good break, and very pretty to see all the prairie wildflowers and many birds. We saw a Baltimore Oriole, a couple of Dickcissels singing madly, a hawk being chased by a posse of Red-Winged Blackbirds, lots of Canada Geese on the pond, a Great Blue Heron, and a deer. Lovely!

[Crankin]

Thanks, Emily. Yes, a lot of them were young, but not all. What got me were the little kids doing this. And, the woman carrying a very tiny baby in a front pack, coming down the steep steps we were ascending to the summit. One guy my age said he wished he had not left *his* poles at home.
Going for a hilly 50 mile ride tomorrow and i hope I can move when I get up...

[Catrin]

Great job Crankin, I'm impressed! I KNOW my knee wouldn't allow that sort of thing - which is a pity as it sounds like a great, and fun, challenge. I don't know about having a small baby along but perhaps she's been using that trail/climb for so long that she felt comfortable enough to do that.

I am very glad I did my 4.5 mile hike yesterday morning as it's been raining constantly since last night and is supposed to continue until sometime tomorrow. Certainly is putting a damper on local celebrations that involve fireworks and other outdoor activities.

Emily, it sounds like you had a beautiful and peaceful hike! Glad you were able to find the "trail less traveled".

[emily_in_nc]

Sorry, I wrote "Catrin" in my post above but meant "Crankin" -- have changed it. Your screen names are just too similar. ;-)

Crankin (I got it right this time!), good luck with your ride tomorrow. That sounds tough!

[Crankin]

About to leave on the ride. Emily, this is the one I described that last year was 95 degrees when we led a group on it. Well, it's going to be 90 today. Thankfully, just the "practice" ride for us. Good thing I used the foam roller on my quads last night. That, and sleeping with my knee compression thing, I am about as good as I'll be after that hike. My knee was a bit off before the hike, so I know that I just should wear that thing when I feel the aching. It's a result of a fracture which occurred over 40 years ago.

[Skierchickie2]

I can't really call what I've been doing "hiking", exactly, but the last few days I've started testing my knee. A 2-1/2 mile walk on gravel roads and 2-tracks on Friday, then more activity and the same walk on Saturday (putting one lavender plant in the ground tested it as much as anything) - that evening it was hurting quite a bit. But Sunday it felt a lot better, and I added more 2-track to my route, for a total of 4 miles. Today DH came with me, and we walked one of our normal run routes. I felt pretty good, so we added to that, for 6-1/2, mostly on 2-tracks and overgrown atv trails. Lots of deer flies driving us nuts. And one stop to raid a nice patch of wild strawberries . Now I'm icing, and it hurts a bit, but it is definitely coming along. I have to be careful on rough ground, and really slow and careful on downhills, as that seems to be the worst part. I haven't tried anything steep yet, but uphills don't feel too bad. So I'm encouraged. After almost 2 weeks of inactivity, it's nice to be out and about.

Oh, and have only found one tick crawling on me since we got home.

I'm sorta jealous of your hike, Crankin! That sounds like a pretty neat one.

[Catrin]

Sounds like you're doing just fine Skierchickie2! I'm coming back from a knee surgery from last summer myself - it's been a long road but am finally improving a bit. I've certainly found that downhills are harder on a bad knee than uphills. Take care and have fun!

[Skierchickie2]

Thank you Catrin. It sounds to me like you're getting out there regularly, and working on it. Do you find biking helps? I know it really helped me recover from sprains (one of the things I did while away from this forum was 2 years of roller derby - all I ever seemed to accomplish there was 3 knee tweaks / sprains, which was why I gave it up a year ago). Knees are cranky things, or so I'm finding these days.

My injury is nothing compared to those of you who have had surgery and knee replacements. I did really think I'd done some major damage inside, but the last few days it has improved drastically. I'm hoping to try biking easy in a couple days, and see how that goes.