Going Fer' a Walk

Here's another relatively short posting.

I've been trying to do some kind of exercise, mainly to supplement weight loss but also because it's supposedly a requirement to not waste away or lose muscle and bone mass. It's hard. The gym in my area has lots of equipment, but no training program for the noobs, or if they do they don't advertise it. I'm making a hobby of figuring out which muscle is going to ache because I think I did something wrong with the free weights.

One thing I am doing new now is walking outside. I don't do it often since outdoor weather isn't as predictable as indoor weather at the gym and I can't get some idea of distance, pace, etc. when walking in the woods compared to a treadmill. On the other hand the gym doesn't have cool looking mushrooms to look at.

This isn't always a great idea though. Turns out the gym is usually safer.

Last night (keep in mind this is being posted later with auto-scheduling) I was planning on going for a walk at the state park. My son and wife had gone the first time I decided to try hiking a trail, and my son actually ended up enjoying it. Well this time around they weren't too hot on the idea so I went by myself.

It was around six o'clock when I left. When I got to the park and started walking there was plenty of daylight. I decided to follow one of the longer trails to see how far I could get.

Lesson one: find a way to track your distance, even if it's a pedometer, if they don't mark the trail well.

I finally reached an open point where I saw a lovely cloud formation at the sunset and a sign saying I was 1.2 miles from the trailhead.

Lesson two: pay attention to details. Notice I said sunset at the middle of the trail I hadn't been on before?

I turned back at that point and started down the trail. I was feeling a little worried because most of the trail turned out to be a HILL. I was scaling an incline a good 75% of the time and my chest was giving a hollow thump...something I need to talk to the doctor about at my next appointment.

Lesson three: the gym sucks, but it has a defibrillator. Luckily I didn't need it.

The woods are lovely. The massive trees with their turning leaves and lichens and mushrooms...getting back to nature is nice once in awhile for a tech-head.

Lesson four: there may be enough light to see when in a field or open area. The woods will be approximately %50 darker. Once it's dim out, the woods will be near-black.

As I was heading down the incline to where my car was I heard more crashing through the woods than I was overall comfortable with. That's when I remembered that making noise helps alert animals...like black bears in the area that also happen to have the perfect camouflage for the night...that you're coming. It wasn't a problem when I first started since there were dried leaves all over the trail. Here? Not so much. It was mostly dirt and roots and rocks.

Lesson five: I started counting my steps out loud. Yes, I did hear a few more things moving in the woods after I did that. Not like a mass exodus of an army of gnomes, but I heard something out there...

I finally hit the end of the trail and it opened to the road. The problem was that I didn't recognize it. I must have missed a turn somewhere along the way.

Lesson six: new trails without a map...bad idea.

I had seen the occasional sign along the way, I simply must have taken a zig when I needed a zag. I wasn't overly worried since as a tech that needs to use tools and flashlights, I started carrying a small LED flashlight clipped to my belt. I was able to read the few signs I passed. That was actually my first inkling that I was in trouble. I found a sign that I didn't remember seeing before shortly before the trail ended at an unmarked road.

Lesson seven: while I didn't have a medical kit, which I should have had, I did have a flashlight and a small toolkit. Just in case. Unfortunately it's a just in case while I'm at work or just going about my day. Anti-venom kits and band aids aren't typical hazards in my day. Bonking my head on rocks from tripping on a root in a trail isn't part of my workday hazards. Hiking around the woods, probably should be more careful here.

I did find a small sign that said that I couldn't park along the road anywhere and at any time, and instead had to park at the lake a the bottom of the hill. The trail ended with a road that was...you guessed it...on a hill. So I walked down. Five minutes later I could discern, barely, the outline of the lake and the guardrail preventing drivers from plunging into it, and recognized where I had parked.

That was my adventure for that night. Some more experience under the belt, and I walked nearly two and a half miles.