After just two lumbers and 12.21 miles, I have had my best week of hiking in roughly 3 weeks. That is no reflection on how good this week is going but more on how freaking bad the previous three have been.
The snow that we got Sunday night into Monday was completely gone by Tuesday morning, and the woods were back to their pre-spring meets rotting garbage palette of browns, blacks, tans, and greys.
It’s been great to be back to a normal routine of lumbering in the woods, but as I type this, I do fear that I might be getting sick for the first time in I don’t know how long.
If I am getting sick, it would not be a surprise, given all the travel, rest stops, gas pumps, shitty food, handshakes, hugs, close talking, dust breathing, mold huffing, sweating, poor sleeping, raw emotion and exhaustion of the recent ten days or so. I’ve been around more people in the last few months than I have in years, and my immune system is working double time and not getting paid extra (a direct violation of International Brotherhood of Domestic Lumberist Union #714 bylaws).
Regardless of a potential bout of illness/allergies, I was once again in the woods on Wednesday morning, ready for another lumber.
After two 6+ mile hikes in a row, I knocked a bit off of today’s loop and was happy enough with 5.30 miles. This way, I not only conserved some energy but, sitting at 17.53 miles on the week, should easily hit my 25-mile weekly goal with just a couple short hikes.
Sadly, I didn’t seem much to photography yesterday or today, so I’ve include a gallery below from this past weekend’s “photo practice” with the birds of the Cul De Sac, including a pair of doves mating for the camera. [click on the photo to enlarge/navigate]
Later.