A Little Hike

Now here’s something I probably would have realized had I stopped to think about it even for second, but when hardened, long-term canyon dwellers ask you if you want to “go on a little hike,” you might want to at least ask them what their definition of “a little hike” is. Turns out it’s a 2-mile trek down into a canyon and along (and often time through) a river. That’s all fine and good except that then you have to hike the 2 miles back out of the canyon as well. I like hiking. I like to walk around back in the woods. It’s peaceful. It’s fun. Yeah, well that kind of hiking is for East Coast wimps and won’t cut it out here, baby. Fuck the gym. All I have to do is hike down to the river and back once a day and I’ll be in the best fucking shape of my life in no time. A few weeks of this and I’ll be craved out of fucking marble. The StairMaster can’t begin to compare to this. Going down isn’t so bad. It’s the climb back up that’ll kill you. There is something resembling a trail but a lot of it washed out during all the rain they got here last winter. All that water turned the trail into something of an obstacle course you have to traverse. It’s loose rock and sandy inclines and it’s a hell of a workout. It was also a fucking blast. Mainly you have to be on your toes. You have to watch where you’re going and if you get into trouble, don’t panic. And you will get into trouble. I slid down more inclines, tripped over more loose rocks, and slipped on more mossy stones than you can imagine. In this one wash out we found a bunch of bamboo that had washed downstream and I now have the perfect walking stick. (It will also serve as a great bo staff should I ever need to defend myself. Now if I could just find a way to imbue it with… sorry, I totally slipped into EQ2 geek mode for a second. I’m starting to go into withdrawl :) It’s perfectly balanced and I really would have had a bitch of a time getting back out of the canyon if I hadn’t found it. I’m going to paint it with talismans and runes and then water seal it. It really is a great staff. I’m so glad I found it. So anyway, the hike was great. If any of you outdoorsy types ever come to visit me we’ll definitely have to take a little hike while you’re here… Ok I’m going to go eat some dinner, watch this Japanese flick, and then go to bed. My legs already feel like Jell-o. I’m going to sleep like the fucking dead tonight…

"How can you explain that you need to know that the trees are still there, and the hills and the sky? Anyone knows they are. How can you say it is time your pulse responded to another rhythm, the rhythm of the day and the season instead of the hour and the minute? No, you cannot explain. So you walk." ~Author unknown, from New York Times editorial, "The Walk," 25 October 1967