‘Bout Time

I last made my way to trails way back in April (6 months ago!) – during what Christians call our Holy Week. I was so looking forward to hiking to Baker’s Cross on Good Friday but I could not because I was sick in bed, exhausted with Covid. Anyway, that’s ancient history. I’ve done plenty of walking and exploring since then (New York, DC, TX). It feels like a whirlwind. I just haven’t had the time to do one of the things that I love most: get out on those mountain trails.

It’s always a little emotional returning after an absence. Seeing those mountains off in the distance is like seeing a long lost friend.

So, all I have to say is, it’s bout time! This past Saturday, during an Annular Eclipse, I returned to the scene of the crime, that is my Covid hike, Black Star Canyon. Beautiful as ever, though dry and lots of brown, I made my way up the canyon to one of the historic sites, the “Indian Village” (Indian as in Native Americans). The weather was still quite warm, cool in the morning, but quickly I needed to stop and layer down. I spent quite a bit of time in the “village”. Walked about a bit, tried out a couple of spots. Then I ate lunch perched on a shaded boulder over looking the valley, breaking an extended fast. It was a lovely time, and as I already wrote but must write again, it’s about time!

I will be back out very soon. I have trails to scout.

Just shy of 10.5 miles covered.

Ccccold on a Tuesday

I started this past week strong by getting in a hike early on, Tuesday 1/26, in between storms. I chose Black Star Canyon, just after sunrise. And it was ccccold (that’s my literary attempt at conveying the fact that my teeth chattered). I was prepared with almost enough warmth. My only problem was that I couldn’t warm my chin and mouth while trekking through the shaded and wet canyon floor, even though I had cinched the hood of my over shirt so that only my eyes poked through. How cold was it? I don’t know exactly how cold – the rain puddles were frozen over with a thin layer of ice at the base of the canyon, so I’m guessing that it was of course freezing at one point, but probably about 40 F when I arrived. Two and a half miles in the climb begins, and so I was able to warm up enough to take off the beanie and hood. The climb is constant after that. It’s constant until you reach the outcropping on the right, the site of the historic Indian village. When I say warmed up going up that mountain, I don’t mean that I was warm – I mean that I was warmer, or rather, less ccccold. And so, the gloves remained, and I don’t think that I took off another layer the entire lovely trip. (For the record, I had four layers on up top: sports bra, tech shirt, cold weather long sleeved sports shirt, and wind/rain breaker with hood plus & beanie and gloves).

Being that Tuesday was a work day, I didn’t have all the time in the world, so I made this hike relatively quick, just up about 5 miles to the Indian Village. The fairytale spot (no, not really fairytale,  more like nature’s church)  was empty of course being a Tuesday, so I sat down at my seat on that giant rock across from Baker’s Cross for quite some time before heading back. In all, I put in about 11 miles with 1,600’ of elevation gain. On a Tuesday!