DO I LIKE HIKING?
I’ve been a jogger for a long time. I consider myself an athlete because when I was a kid, I was a jock – soccer, softball, volleyball… and I live near a really fancy hike&bike trail in Austin, which I use regularly. I started really using it almost daily about a year after I quit smoking. I woke up one day and couldn’t put my favorite pants on. I sized up and then those didn’t fit. I had gained about 14 pounds. The perfect storm of peri-menopause, quitting smoking, and 2 gum-flap surgeries. My body is really different from what it was 2 years ago, and I think this is how it’s going to be.
So I’ve run, I’ve jogged, I’ve walked, and I’ve explored a few local trails with my boyfriend, but I had never hiked a trail alone until I went to Colorado Bend last month. I dug it.
I picked Lost Maples as my next park because it has some great hiking. And I started watching hiking videos. I found Homemade Wanderlust and Darwin on the Trail and Outdoor Adventures and watched all of their thru-hikes.
I just hiked the East Trail today – probably about 5 miles in all. I’m sitting at the beautiful pond at the end of that hike. And I’m wondering if I could do a thru hike – can I carry 30lbs on my back for 15 miles every day and still enjoy hiking? Would my stupid plantar fasciitis-ridden feet stand up to it? Would my body? Dunno.
Car camping is funny – it’s pretty much me and a bunch of RVs. I’m getting better at everything – pitching my tent, cooking, etc., but I also find I get into these weird little rushes and I’ll skip steps – like driving here without checking my list, and then having to go back for my sleeping bag, or not cooking well, or running off to hike without a watch or compass or first aid kit. These are easy loop trails but it’s just a bad habit to get into. I did fall on the trail today – I didn’t get hurt, but I shouldn’t be alone without that stuff.