Day 206 of 365.
This hike was the hardest one for me (so far, although I'd hate to meet one harder anytime soon), as we hiked 1.5 miles up a slide. This required more "climbing" than I like. Also, this hike included scary climbs up exposed rock with very gusty winds. My fear of heights was in overdrive and I nearly didn't make it. Then I did. Thanks to Dr. Nick & my father-in-law. I totally earned my pizza that night.
It was a profound experience. Having done something like that, something I never ever thought I'd be able to do, I start to wonder what else I can do.
Labels: 365, Adirondacks Preserve, hiking, light, light shadow, mountains, Mt. Colden, nature, sky clouds, summer, YIP
¶ 12:43 PM 0 Comments
Day 201 of 365.
I chose this one because this seal inset in the top of Giant Mountain in the Adirondacks Preserve marks the first High Peaks hike of the year; and Peak #4 for me. The hike up Giant is no picnic - 3000 feet over 3 miles with no warm-up hiking to the trail-head. This took us 3 hours. After stopping on this peak we continued to Rocky Ridge Peak, and after that went DOWN 5000 feet, in rain and on slippery rock faces. I could scarcely walk the next two days, but I felt rather accomplished anyway.
Labels: 365, Adirondacks Preserve, elevation, Giant Mountain, hiking, peak count, rocks, YIP
¶ 10:33 AM 0 Comments
Day 167 of 365.
We walked all the way around Gull Lake on the day I took this picture - 13 miles. 4.5 hours.
Labels: 365, details, Gull Lake, hiking, Minnesota, Tenstrike, YIP
¶ 5:11 PM 0 Comments
Day 129 of 365.
I've been shooting my photos, I swear: I've just had a strange aversion to spending much time with the computer, or with sharing them. I think this strange period is over now; and I'll post a few photos a day until I'm caught up.
* * * * * *
We went hiking about three weeks ago. On this hike, I acquired a tick which Dr. Nick removed. Ticks creep me out. We missed the tick that Blixa had, too, until the next day, at which point it was so engorged that we thought it was a growth and we took Blixa to the vet. We felt a little sheepish when the vet removed it easily; but I'm squeamish about ticks.
I'm also squeamish about snakes. On the hike back to our car, at one point I nearly stepped on a long black snake (huge!) lying across the path. I dashed back to Dr. Nick. He took a stick and tapped on rocks around the snake, but eventually had to prod it a few times until it got the message and moved away from the path. No WAY was I walking over it. Dr. Nick asked me if I wanted to go back and photograph it.
Ugh, no. While macro photos of snakes can be very beautiful, I will never create any. They creep me out too much.
Labels: 365, blixa, dr. nick, hiking, montgomery, west virginia, YIP
¶ 6:11 PM 0 Comments
Day 105 of 365.
I walked/hiked through the Saint Albans City Park today with a friend, and we saw this owl around 3 p.m. Maybe he's an insomniac? I wish I had a better zoom feature, but I couldn't resist trying, anyway. I took a better photo today, but I have certain weaknesses that I will never be able to resist - photos aligning with quotes from Twin Peaks, and, uh, probably a bunch of other things.
Labels: 365, fauna, flora, hiking, owls, Twin Peaks, weaknesses, WV, YIP
¶ 6:50 PM 0 Comments
Day 52 of 365.
Kurt Vonnegut thought that there shouldn't be just four seasons - there should be six. Winter (January, February), Unlocking (March, April), Spring (May, June), Summer (July, August), Autumn (September, October), and Locking (November, December). I think that this theory makes a lot of sense.
So today we went out for a long, long walk in the Unlocking; a hike really. The first true training hike to get ready for our Adirondacks adventures in August. By Dr. Nick's calculations, we probably hiked about 5 miles, and through 1000 feet of elevation. Not bad. Let it be noted, though, that a lot of that elevation still had mushy snow on it, and we slogged up a rather steep incline for an hour with inappropriate gear. Blixa came along, and we let him off the leash for the whole hike. He had the best day ever.
Labels: 365, blixa, dr. nick, hiking, kurt vonnegut, nature, unlocking, WV, YIP
¶ 5:49 PM 0 Comments
