Hiking

[Catrin]

Crankin, I look forward to seeing pictures when you've a chance. It sounds incredible!

Speaking of incredible, Emily I love YOUR pictures, and you look great - and happy - on the trail. Thanks for sharing!

Today is supposed to be the warmest day in a week for Indianapolis, and it will get to 72, they say. I really feel the need to move, to do SOMETHING, and I can't lift, don't know how to swim (shoulders probably couldn't handle that anyway), so I may try a very short walk on dirt and see what happens. When I mean short, I mean 1 mile or less, and the trail doesn't really connect with any other so that will decrease the temptation to go longer. I've also been told my hiking boots might be part of the problem so will try it with my Keenes.

[Crankin]

We had a 20 degree decrease in temperature from yesterday and it was windy today. Cloudy, too.
I can say, this was the hardest hike i've done. I didn't let any of the others hear my complaining, but there was a good deal of rock scrambling in the beginning. I was still the third one up, but I was crawling. So were others, though. At least today we had clear views of Echo Lake and the ocean, along with a variety of flora and fauna. Many of these people are naturalists (amateur and pro), but I am just not that interested in the 20 kinds of moss!
There were some tricky chutes/rocks when we had to get down from the peak (I can't even remember the name of the mountain), but I managed it. The peak had a fire tower, which was closed. Anyway, between my eye hurting, my knee aching, and the wind, it was all I could do from melting down. I am proud I did it, and it started to drizzle just as we were getting back. I had become chilled from stopping for lunch, although I really was dressed correctly. We hiked about 6 miles, with 1K ft. of climbing. I still can't believe some of these people did this, between some being over 80 years old, one with cancer, and 2 extremely overweight. The are motivated.
We are going into town on our own for a bit, before happy hour, and then out to dinner. I hope I can move for tomorrow's short hike.

[Catrin]

Crankin, sounds incredible! Thank you for the description, you are a strong woman indeed. Hopefully tomorrow's hike is more of a recovery hike. Looking forward to any pictures you may have been able to take. I hear you about not caring about 20 kinds of moss

Today I just did an extremely easy 1 mile loop in my hiking SHOES (Keenes), not my lovely Solomons just in case that's part of the problem. It's a few hours later and my left shin is complaining a little, so back to resting it. Well, at least it was a 1-mile FLAT, totally boring test. Not that long ago it would have been a mountain bike trail test, so perhaps I'm finally learning something.

While over-use injuries are never good things to have, I don't think it such a bad thing that I'm having to deal with such things at as I celebrate my 57th

[emily_in_nc]

I missed where you are, Crankin. Somewhere in New England? Congrats on finishing a tough hike -- I completely get how you were feeling! I almost, almost melted down on the long one we took a few days ago because DH took off to the summit without me. This is the hike that was nearly 3000' of climbing in the 4+ miles up (and the same descending on the way back). I thought my pace was decent, given the grade, but he is a much faster hiker than me and gets impatient. He did the same thing on the way back. I was proud of myself as I didn't pitch a fit or start a big fight with him afterwards; just calmly asked him why he took off without me and told him how it made me feel. He had a reasonable explanation having to do with the GPS and photo opportunities at the summit, but I asked him, in the future, to please tell me this ahead of time; don't just take off. He said he would and apologized.

It was one of those Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus moments, I think!

[emily_in_nc]

Sorry you're not able to hike much but glad you at least got in a little walk. Hope you will continue to heal up and be back to the type of hikes you like very soon!

[Pax]

Happy Birthday, Catrin!!

[Crankin]

Happy birthday, Catrin! I like your attitude. Hope you had some port or beer to celebrate.
So, our last day of our trip, the sun came out and it was 50 degrees, but still windy near the summit of our climb, and by the ocean. We had fabulous views.
We drove into the park, this time, where I purchased a life time senior pass (I really disliked this) for 10.00, as they are going up to 80.00 next year. We parked at the Mt. Gotham lot and proceeded to hike... it started out rocky, and pretty much stayed that way, only difference being the rocks were different shapes! No scrambling, once DH grabed my pole and pulled me up, since my short legs put me at a severe disadvantage. I found out that I prefer to jump down from rocks, rather than doing a steep step down, which hurts my knees more, even with poles. The view of the Schoodic Peninsula was awesome, and I could see the places we visited with our kids, about 18 years ago. It was our last vacation, where no one was cycling. We went down another trail, and then walked about a mile on a path along the ocean.
Some interesting facts about the other participants... one man is 88 years old, which means he could have been a friend of my parents. His wife is 82. There were quite a few in their 70s, and about 6 others around my age. All educated, accomplished people. So, no bragging about how fast I was, given who I was hiking with. But, I could keep up with the one person who was fast, besides DH, except on the really technical stuff.
We had lunch in Bar harbor and then the long drive home; since we were going into rush hour traffic near the end, it took longer than the trip up. Glad to be home, but also really glad I went.