It’s been a long time since I took a really long walk and at a work meeting several of us got into a discussion of exercise. One of my coworkers mentioned that she’d definitely gotten the “quaran-ten” but had lost three pounds so it was closer to the “quaran-seven”, and I realized I was closer to putting the “teen” in quarantine and I really needed to get some exercise. So this weekend I went to Radnor Lake to take a long hike. And I made the mistake of leaving the house late and a bunch of people, mostly families, had gotten there ahead of me. So I decided to take the Ganier Ridge Trail, which is the longest trail around the park and, true to its name, extends up and along a high ridge so it’s slightly more difficult and I figured it would be the least used trail. And I was right.
First, though, I stopped to look at the lake.
You can’t tell from this picture but I was about to start the steep climb to the top of the ridge. I took the mask off when I was alone but put it on around other people and for the obligatory selfie.
It was a sunny day but there were signs of the recent rain.
This is the view from the top of the ridge. You could see for miles from here if all the greenery and trees weren’t in the way.
Have you ever started out on something and realized that it might have been a terrible mistake? That happens to me with pretty much everything I do, and I started to feel that way as I was climbing the trail. I haven’t been getting as much exercise as I used to and I was really starting to get tired. I seriously thought about turning back when I reached this.
It was the halfway point of the trail. And with that I felt a lot better. I could do this. I kept going. The trail extends a good way along the ridge and then it’s all downhill.
And then, having finished the trail and on my way to the car I saw this. Hey, do you feel like we do?
I’m approaching the quarantwenty and seriously need to hike up a mountain or two. Damn the grocery stores for stocking all those goodies.
It’s bad enough that the grocery stores stock up all those goodies. They also compel me to go and pick up goodies and I look at the calorie count and nutritional information and think, oh no, I shouldn’t eat that, but I feel guilty about putting things back after having put my germy hands on them so I buy them and them I think, well I can’t let that pudding go to waste…so it goes to waist.
So a beautiful and adventurous place to hike. enjoyed this video.
Radnor is a little treasure. You get about 10 minutes from downtown and you’re in the middle of paradise. Matt does a lot of photography there. He once took a photo of a deer, got home and realized it had been photo-bombed by a fox just passing through. I need to get to Radnor. I have only put a few pounds, but I didn’t have any to spare, so…
It really is a little treasure and the whole story of how it was almost sold to developers who planned to destroy it but the community came together and bought it just makes me almost as happy as being there. I can understand why Matt does a lot of photography there–it’s amazing that such a beautiful place is so convenient. That’s hilarious about the photobombing fox. The deer there are really relaxed about people and it wouldn’t surprise me if the fox was too.
I do feel like you do, Chris, and I’m about to go on a REALLY long walk. I hope I turn back at the right time, at least in time to write my next blog post.
Ann Koplow recently posted…Day 2853: Other people’s stories
I hope you enjoyed that long walk as much as I enjoyed your next blog post.
You had me at hike. You already know I’m a hiker. You also know those activities have been restricted by my health issues. I recently tried to hike like I used to and came to realize my mistake. If you don’t mind me hijacking your post I’ll past a comment I made about that trip in a hiking forum:
When is a trail fail also a success? Let me give you some background. I’m 52 years old and I have a liver disease that saps my energy. About two years ago when I was first diagnosed I had to stop many physical things such as the work I did and unfortunately hiking. It took a while to get things medicinally controlled enough so that I could somewhat start to function again. In the past six months I have gotten back out on the trails and started to build my trail legs back up. I didn’t push it too hard at first, only doing small hikes that got longer and harder each time. Every time I was able to complete the hike I planned, until yesterday. My wife and I now live a full time RV life and travel to so many wonderful places that are ripe for hikers. Yesterday I couldn’t pass up the chance to go for the highest point in Texas, Gudalupe Peak. It’s a tough haul but I thought if I started early and took it slow I could make it. I didn’t. With only one mile left to the summit my liver betrayed me. I won’t get into any of the details but it stopped me in my tracks and after a long rest period I had to turn around. So I failed to summit and it really bothered me for a while but then I thought about all the beauty I did get to see. It turns out the place I had the incident was right near an awesome copse of trees near a cliff side that had amazing views. I spent over an hour “recuperating” there before I went back down and it really was a nice time. So I think it might have been a success after all. I’m sure we’ve all heard the cliche “It’s not about the miles but the smiles”, but in this case it truly felt that way. I think I am going to call it a successful trail fail.
That’s not a hijack at all–I really appreciate you sharing that story. It’s a funny thing that I read this comment back when you first posted it and now that I’m finally replying to it I took the time to read it again and I feel I got even more out of it this time. Thank you for that.
Yeah man hiking… I think I needed to put something into my travel list and as these things settle I can move to do some good stuff..