I have been hiking a lot. I'm getting kind of crazy about it. I want to do it all the time. Maybe it's because the season is so very short here... June, July, August, maybe a little into September. The rest is pretty much winter. So, up Pine Creek I go. I have gone maybe six or seven times in the past week. I prefer to hike with a friend or two, but if nobody is up for it... I'm going anyway. The hike up to the waterfall is pretty easy. It's one mile, with just a little climb at the end, just enough to get my heart rate up nicely. And it is really beautiful, just amazing. I love it. Then, yesterday, my hiking pal Caitlin asked if I wanted to hike to the top of the falls. Sure... why not? I have been toying with the idea of hiking all the way up to Pine Creek lake (another four miles) so why not go a little farther up and further in?
Oh, boy. It goes, in just a hundred vertical feet or so (about 10 switchbacks), from really beautiful to spectacular. Say it like this: separate the syllables and get loud. SPEC-TACULAR! So I went a little farther up (and further in) today, by myself, and this time I brought the camera. Thanks again, Dad. There are little flowers at the higher elevations that don't grow below. The air is crisp and lightly scented. And it's harder to get there. Those switchbacks are steep, some of them. But the feeling I have when I get up there... I'm going all the way to the lake, and soon. For an overnight trip. I'm told by reliable sources that the view is stunning, and worth the effort. The effort, by the way, is considerable. After the falls, it is another four miles to the lake... four miles of switchbacks ascending three thousand vertical feet. That is a serious hike. But I'm up for it. I'll keep you posted.
It was a half and half kind of week, eating wise. Three partly cloudy days, three blue sky days, and one very sick day which was neither. I'm not quite as mindful when eating as I would like to be, and I give in to appetite more often than I like. But, overall, I think the new path is a good one. I'm exercising like crazy, and I'm getting fitter. Also, Jess Owen called me fabulous, which makes me silly happy.
Oh, and there are a lot of cutthroat trout in Pine Creek lake. Yep.
Peace, love, and good hiking to you all.
Steve "Big Daddy" Hodgson
June the twenty-second, 2010
260.6 pounds
I bet the air smelled amazing! The falls must be gushing! When I was a basketball coach I always thought a part of conditioning should be a hike up to the top of the falls and back...get our heart rates up!! You rock...Daddy Ohh!!
ReplyDeleteThe falls are HUGE. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteMmmmm sneaky little cutthroat. I mean... great post :D I really do love to read about your hikes and see your photos, which I think are publishable. And by publishable, I mean awesome.
ReplyDeleteIf it helps, remember that the partly cloudy days can remind us how great the sunny day days are. (Although it's usually best to remind yourself of this during a happy, peaceful, successful sunny day ;) ..not necessarily during a bad spell).
Thanks for the shout out ^_^ meheheh.
that looks amazing. wish TFS and I were there.
ReplyDeleteI want to go there with you! xo
ReplyDeleteHmmm, it's been a couple months......HINT HINT
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