After three lumberless days, I was back in the woods early Wednesday morning for a slow but much-needed 5-mile hike. It felt swell. Not great, but swell.
My blister is nearly gone, and a good medicated bandaid is keeping any discomfort to a minimum.
As for the rest of my foot issues, I’m looking at it as a never-ending Karmic age tax for continuing to push myself outdoors to “do stuff” instead of wallowing in depression under the covers of The Bed of Torment, waiting to die. And, I know it will get better eventually, and then it will be my right foot’s turn again.
Despite walking in the woods for well over an hour, other than the lone gaggle-banished goose that lurks near the suspension bridge every morning, I saw next to nothing to shoot; no birds, no deer, no snakes, no nothing.
I was in my last mile on one of the main park trails when I saw the older woman that I see almost every day walking up ahead. Unlike the last time I saw her, I had no desire to pick up the pace to a run to get by. So, I let out a “good morning” to let her know I was approaching, and we exchanged small talk as I passed.
As I walked by, she saw my camera and asked if I got anything good today. I replied, “Not much,” and she then enthusiastically told me about the fawn she saw earlier and took a photo of with her phone.
“Do you want to see it??” She excitedly asked.
“Sure!” I replied.
She then quickly pulled out her phone and showed me the pic of the little deer.
“That’s awesome! Nice work!” I said.
She sheepishly thanked me for the compliment; I bid her a good day and then picked up the pace until I was well gone and back to Escape II with a nugget hair over 5 miles in my feetz.
I wish I had seen more to photograph, but in the end, I was just happy to be back in the woods and burning some calories.
Later.
Note: The goose and apple photos are from today; the bird pics are from around the Cul-De-Sac-Shack this week.