Honking of Own Platypus Alert!
Sunday marked the 6-month anniversary of the 2022 Not Dead Yet Comeback Special/2023 Soil The Woods Tour, and I, of course, celebrated with a short morning hike in the snow to put me at 600.95 miles hiked since September 19th.
Fun fact for you, 600 miles is roughly the equivalent of walking from Mount Pleasant to the Subway Subs in Bland, Virginia, which according to one Google review, is the “best place for an evening meal in Bland.” I can’t believe that in a town of 313 people, there’s not a better place!
I was actually on pace to hit 600 miles weeks ago, but weekly late February and March snow storms and the resulting freeze/thaw/freeze that we continue to go through forced me to change over to snowshoes or, at best, hiking boots, microspikes, and trekking poles.
Still, I managed to maintain my 100 miles per-month average, and the itch I have to lumber on snow-free trails is burning like a pipe full of gas, and I can only think that when my feetz hit dry trails, I will be lumbering like no person has ever lumbered before.
Even today, the first day of spring, half of my winter-reduced 3.25-mile loop is covered in packed, slippery snow that is impossible for me to traverse comfortably without poles. Spikes would have been perfect for long stretches but like bringing a tank to fistfight for others. So, I got one hell of an upper body workout trying to keep upright.
Picture-taking has sucked as well. Every shot could have been taken any time over the past ten weeks—snow, ice, slush, and dead trees are all the same now as the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that, etc., etc., etc., Just look through this feed! I don’t know why I even bother hauling my camera!
Later.