After two days of pseudo-slack, I was up and at the trails at 7 AM on Monday in search of miles for feetz. Miles were found.
It had only been a couple days since I was last hiking, but in those two days, the forest floor was becoming greener, the buds were thinking about becoming full-on blooms, and the deer were losing their winter coat big time and turning into four-legged balls of fuzz.
Hiking through the woods in the spring is one of my favorite things ever because you are literally watching the forest become alive, and it’s fucking amazing. Especially when you can capture some of the fine details within the buds and blooms. Even without using a macro lens, there is much to be seen and take in!
While it was great to be out, I felt a bit sluggish from a weekend of sloth. Still, I got 5.30 miles in, so there’s that.
On Tuesday, I was back again, and the morning temp was the highest they’ve been since last fall, and I actually had my first sweat-soaked hat hike of the year.
If things were poppin’ on Monday, on Tuesday, the buds were on their way to becoming full-on blooms, and in some sections, there were flowers on the forest floor that weren’t there just 24 hours ago. Did I mention how much I love hiking in the spring?
I also saw my first turtles of the year, but sadly, just as I was getting ready to snap a photo of them, two dudes came around the corner and, of course, started a conversation. With that, the group of turtles *plunk* *plunk* *plunk* rolled off the log and into the river. No worries, I’ll get more chances, that’s for sure.
I’ve run into the one dude before; he’s a friendly older guy and wears a hi-viz worker vest for some reason. I half expect him to be holding a Stop/Slow sign when I see him. He also always wants to know what critters I’ve been seeing and photographing. Today, I stopped short of saying, “Well, I ALMOST had a photo of some turtles, but they got spooked.” It’s all good, though; no worries, Hi-Viz Hiker Dude and Friend of HVHD.
With the morning temps already in the 70s (the high for the day) and a strong breeze blowing, I was feeling good and felt like I could have kept on lumbering all morning. Instead, I ended the hike at 7.03 miles, which is the longest I’ve gone since January 8th of this year. That is a good indication of how screwed up this year has been. Having said that, I feel like in the past few days, I’ve felt more myself than I have in over two months, and I look forward to more miles and doing my best to lose the layer of beer-fueled blubber I put on Since early December.
By the time I finished the hike, the winds had picked up to close to 30 MPH with gusts over 50! As I drove home, there was a thick cloud of dust from the hundreds, if not thousands, of acres of freshly tilled fields surrounding town and our neighborhood, and it looked like the sand storms from the Middle East they would show on the news during whatever war the US was in at the time. Anywhere outside of town was an orange/brown haze of silty dirt that was easily finding its way into the house and ruining all the dusting I did yesterday!! Not happy.
It’s a busy week with B’s graduation from MSU on Friday night, my father-in-law coming into town on Thursday, the yard needs tending to, and the house cleaned well before his arrival. Somewhere in all that, there will be more miles to be lumbered and photos to be taken. I believe I’m owed some turtles.
Later.