Hiking

[Crankin]

No, you are not the only one. I like my hikes with our friends, because it alternates between talking and silence.
DGD slept over last night. She didn't go to bed until midnight and I had to do the brunt of the care, as DH is sick. She slept until 7 AM, and I am exhausted. I am hoping to get out for a short hike later, as my dreas of an 8:15 tabata class went out the window very quickly.

[north woods gal]

Constant chatter would drive me nuts, too. In fact, it would irritate the heck out of me while hiking or doing anything out in the woods. It would be like chatting during church, because, well, the woods are my church.

[Crankin]

So, today we went to a state park about 35 miles NW of here. It's not far from the place we x country ski, just over the border of NH. Also near where we climbed Mt. Watatic last summer. So, based on our hike Saturday, we did not bring our ice spikes. There was no snow or ice along the road as we drove up there, so we thought we were safe! We were going to do the "moderate" 5.2 mile hike, that had a lot of climbing. Of course, after just a short bit, there were ice and snow patches, but we could either go along side of them, or walk on strategically placed rocks. However, when the trail turned, it became narrow and full of ice and crusty snow. Even DH was not willing to try, so we doubled back a bit and found the easier "family friendly" trail, that also had some ups and downs. We saw a way to make this longer and climb up a small mountain, but we were stopped by ice there, too. So, we hiked around the camping sites and went back the way we came. Not a total fail, as we hiked 3.3 miles, with some good climbs, and it was really nice. We may even try and camp there next summer.
I think we will go back next week and try again.

[emily_in_nc]

That sounds nice, Crankin. Glad you didn't risk slipping on the ice, but I am sure it was pretty. Although I don't like the cold, I do enjoy winter hikes. No bugs, spiderwebs, weeds across the trail, not as much sweating, and I like the way the woods look in bare branches -- the views are better, for one.

[Crankin]

We were thwarted in returning to the state park today. Still warmer, but in the 40s and cloudy. When we were ready to get ready to leave, we checked the weather and it said it was raining there, and we could see rain on the radar. So, we decided to keep it local. Of course, once we got in the car, we looked at ther radar and there was nothing.We hiked 3 miles in Estabrook Woods, using our app to find a couple of new trails. Saw a few cross riders in the beginning and just afew other hikers, although there were plenty of cars around at the start. We hiked down the old ski hill, which is steep, and that was fun. Not as much fun as snow shoeing up it, though. As we were driving home, we did see several cyclists, as we were on extremely popular roads. I thought about getting my bike out for a short ride, looked up, and it was sprinkling out, so that didn't happen. Stopped at the natural foods store, and headed home for lunch.
So, a 3 mile hike at a good pace. Kind of bored now, I've been reading, but the rest of the world is wrapped up in the football game, which we could care less about!

[Catrin]

Glad you got in a good hike Crankin! As for me, the temps have been unbelievable in my part of the world. I went for a long walk yesterday, and today, with NO COAT! 66 yesterday (almost a 100 yr record), and close to 60 this afternoon. This means the trail are a muddy mess so I'm having to avoid dirt. Hit a MUP yesterday for almost 4 miles, hit the local canal tow path trail today for 2. I seem to be (finally) working out which shoes for what pavement. My feet are happy :-)

I'm also noticing that when I don't walk in some ways most days that my sacrum/SI joint gets very unhappy with me. My chiro keeps having to unlock it. I sure hope I'm not getting arthritis THERE as well!

Very thankful for the warm weather walking, and afterwards bought a small child-size scoop of some amazing ice cream. Great for January...but frankly I would prefer if it were closer to freezing so the trails would be hard and I could try out my cleats for hiking - bought them in December and still haven't had a chance to use them.

[Pax]

Found out the other day that we qualify for a $25 lifetime pass to the University Armory indoor track. You have to be 55 and instead of $3 a day or $250 a year, it's only $25 one time! So we both joined and are going there to take looong walks (my honey runs), they do college track meets there so the track is nice, it's softer than concrete and they don't mind if I use my poles as long as they have rubber tips. Same as Catrin, our weather has been really warm so all the trails are mud bogs, and my poor leg swells up a lot if I walk on concrete... so a big win for our fitness!