Where Have You Been

When I return to blog after being MIA (again) I'm always reminded of my grandmother mother, hands on her hips, demanding to know "Where in the world have you been?!" back in the days of my youth.  Sometimes the explanations ran to the creative side.  This time I have the photo to prove I was actually stranded on an island of dinosaurs after a hurricane destroyed power on the island and I missed the last boat to the mainland. 
So really, I was on vacation (the photo is from the Virginia Living Museum, who knew Velociraptors were indigenous to Virginia).  So far I haven't been able to do much of anything that has any thing to do with hiking or backpacking.  There was a scout camping trip to Luray Caverns, but that's as close as I've come in some time.  Between weekend trips to the beach, scouting events, work and stresses of life, I haven't had time for much of anything, including working on that ghost book.  There was a weekend trip to REI in the works, but that had to be canceled because of a funeral.  I know I should get out there and start hiking and go be in nature where the stress is usually a little less, but the stress is so great it's actually keeping me from being able to motivate myself to get out there.  I'm going on my first backpacking trip in a little over 2 months and so far I have a pack, a pair of boots I'm still not 100% convinced fit me right, hiking poles, a map, a data book and a headband.  Oh, and a pocket knife. I'm not in shape and not very confident that my back will be strong enough for 30 pounds and my biggest worry: I'm not confident that I'm going to manage to make it 40 miles on a bum butt.
So, I guess it's time for some stress management, time management and preparation.  I'm a procrastinator and I seem to do my best work under pressure.  Here's hoping that applies to the AT.

MIA

I feel like I've been MIA on this blog for a long long time.  Heck, I feel I've been MIA in everything lately as I'm pulled in all sorts of different directions and activities and jobs. 
I just returned from a week long Scout Camp with my son which explains my lack of blogging since I can't very well drag along a laptop with me. And while I wasn't able to blog about hiking, I was able to do a lot of hiking/walking in those 4 days.  I probably hiked/walked miles over the week that I was there.  My biggest concern was how I'd manage with my injury/piriformis syndrome.  I had to carry the daily necessities (sunscreen, water bottles, rain ponchos, clipboard, etc.) in my back pack all day traveling back and forth from camp to the different program sites.  Surprisingly, I managed okay without the benefit of any heating pads or massages to help ease the muscle tightness.  I wasn't carrying around a 30 pound pack, but I was carrying several pounds in the pack I had for 4 1/2 days.  My muscle was very tired and sore still.  I'm hoping that it will continue to improve or it will be a very slow hike I do in October. All in all it was nice to spend the time with my son and be outdoors, but I am glad to be back home.  Hopefully I can get things organized and back to a more regular blogging schedule (and maybe get everything else to fall into place).

Almost Pain Free

Went for a last minute hike this past Sunday.  The temps were in the upper 80's and the humidity made it ungodly hot.  But we went anyway.  I wanted to take along my pack to see how I managed with my injury.  I'm anxious to get back to work and get ready for the upcoming trip. 

I was carrying around the water for everyone else and the pack in total weighed about 12 pounds.  Not quite half of the maximum weight I expect to be carrying on the trail.  Did I mention it was hot?  We only did about 2 miles because of the heat.  I managed okay with my pack.  I stopped three times to stretch my muscle and it didn't really bother me too much.  I had more trouble with back pain than butt pain.  At the end, I was feeling encouraged that I'd be able to overcome the pain in my hip/butt.

When we returned to my mom's house, I crashed on the couch for an hour and a half.  I'm sure glad that our big hike takes place in the fall and not in the heat and humidity of summer!

Wordless on a Thursday

A few shots from my hike at Hashawa:

Back to the Routine

Julie and Ernie walking the trail

It's been a while, but I was finally able to get back to the trail.  The summer months are the busiest months for me.  We have our typical Scout activities plus baseball plus gardening plus trips to the beach.  It hasn't left much time for trips to the woods.  So last minute we planned a quick hike over at Hashawa Environmental Center.  I love hiking there.  The visitor's Center offers nice bathrooms and information on hikes and activities.  The trails all interconnect so you can make your hike as long, short, strenuous or easy as you want. 
My husband and I had been busy the day before the hike.  We have a large veggie garden and because of the rainy days we've had, it needed a lot of weeding.  That and cleaning out my parent's basement until midnight meant my body was in quite a bit of pain the morning of the hike.  I wasn't sure if I would even be able to go.  My knees hurt, my back hurt, my hips hurt and my piriformis muscle hurt.  But I swallwed a couple of Alieves and did my muscle stretches for the piriformis injury  sucked it up and went on my way.  And I'm glad I did.

E checking out the groundhog hole

My son enjoyed checking out things on the trail.  Here we stopped to try to get mulberries off the mulberry tree there and in doing so discovered a large hole dug directly under the tree.  Our consensus was that it was a groundhog hole (there was another hole dug nearby.  We all checked it out and continued on our way.  We eventually came to the Raptor cages along the trail.  Hashawa has several birds of prey that have been severely injured to the point of being unable to live in the wild.  They have a Kestrel, Screech owl, Barred owls, Great Horned owls, Red Tailed Hawks, a Black Vulture and a Bald Eagle. I love visiting the birds.  The benches there make a good spot for muscle stretching which is something I have found I need to do regularly while hiking.
It was a really nice hike and while it had a few inclines, it wasn't too taxing.  I had minimal pain associated with my injury and that was a great thing.  I think I might be able to work more wearing my pack and begin adding some weight to it.  I don't want to over do anything, but in reality that 40+ mile hike is fast approaching in October and I'd like to be physically ready (or at least more ready than I am now).  I'm hoping to find some time to go on an overnight to get the hang of things.

E and I

(I'm sporting the AT: Women's Group headband and I love it {even if my husband says I look like a hippy}

you can join the Facebook group if you're a woman and you hike.  I highly recommend it!)

Mother's Day Hike

This past Sunday was Mother's Day and my mom and I decided one thing we wanted to do was go hiking.  It was a pretty stressful weekend for me, and I was all for spending some time outdoors.  I was also anxious to start getting back to the hiking routine and see how my injury held up. 
We opted to hike some trails at Hashawa Environmental Center which isn't too far from home and has some trails that offer some hills.  Their trails also all connect so it's easy to modify your hike- something that works well for my injury.  If it starts hurting we can cut the hike short.
We decided on the Vista Loop Trail and the Green Trail which combined make about a 3 mile hike.  The weather was gorgeous and the hike was great.  I made sure I stretched my muscle along the trail and I didn't have any pain with it at all (a first!).  We encountered some wildlife along the way including a snake that we weren't able to see long enough to identify (even though I went racing through the grass to find it), a an American Toad the size of the tip of your thumb to the first knuckle and some fish and a Red Eared Slider turtle in the large pond. 
It was a really good hike.  I felt better getting outside, spent some time with my mom and felt a little ray of hope that my injury might be getting better or at least manageable. 

American Toad my mom spotted

Red Eared Slider- my favorite photo with the clouds reflected in the water

Roam If You Want To

I finally ventured out last evening on my first walk/hike in around a month (or since the physical therapist told me to take it easy).  After managing to walk around Camporee this past weekend without too much difficulty, I figured it was time for a little more.  Rather than hit an actual trail, my mother and I opted to walk down a private lane near her house.  It has one long hill but is otherwise flat.  Just enough to test the waters.   As we walked down the hill, we saw two horses running towards us- not in a fence.  Loose horses are always an interesting thing to deal with so I realized this little walk might end up being a lot more adventurous that I had originally thought.  There was a house near by that had a pasture with a gate open.  My mom went to see if the horses were possibly theirs and see about getting them back home.

In the meantime, I had coaxed one over with a handful of grass.  I took off my sweatshirt and used it as a makeshift rope to keep the horse from running off.  I was at least hoping it would keep the horse from running off because I really didn't want to lose my sweatshirt.  Eventually my mom returned and told me to turn the horse loose.  Apparently the owners let the horses out of the pasture to roam where they want to (I know, the B-52's song is stuck in my head now too).  As a horse person, this is pretty much ridiculous.  There are countless things that could happen to a horse when it's pastured let alone wandering aimlessly in areas you have no control over.  But I can appreciate the horses' desire to roam because that's part of what lead to this back packing business in the first place.
We continued on our way and visited a couple more neighborhood horses (who were appropriately paddocked) before turning around to head back.  I was having very little issue with the muscle injury.  There wasn't really any pain involved, just issue with the muscle being tired quickly- a consequence of not being used for a while I imagine.
Eventually we came to the long hill we had to climb to get home.  The photo doesn't do the hill justice, as it looks almost flat, but believe me, it's a big hill.  And I know it doesn't compare to hills out on the AT, but I haven't climbed anything in a month and hills cause the most pain with my injury.
I managed to make it with only a couple of breaks and I was pleased that the problems I had seemed to be due to lack of conditioning.  Once I get my muscle strength built up, I might actually be okay.
Even this morning I felt okay.  My piriformis muscle is a little tight, but it was much better after some stretching, which I plan to do a few times throughout the day. 

Things are looking a little more hopeful.