Spring has sprung, so a hiking I will go!

Yesterday was the first day of Spring, and since the girls were at my mother's house for the day, I decided to go on a hike with Maya. I usually take all three dogs, but I was going to try the long (7.5 miles) trail that I hadn't done before and three dogs can be less than peaceful at times.  Maya is the best dog for hiking because she has perfect recall, and she always double backs to check in with me.  I got to the West Thompson Dam, and parked around 10:00 am and started on the Ramsdell Trail.  It's nice because it seems the less traveled of the trails, and even though you're not circling the lake there's still lots of water.  My favorite are the Pine groves where it's really quiet and peaceful. I sat for a minute just to take it all in, and listen to the soft wind, and birds chirping. Maya doesn't like me to stop moving too long before she starts whining because she wants to continue her walk...... oh well it was good while it lasted.  I had taken this trail once before, and that was only my second time at this particular area so I wasn't completely sure of where I was going (despite good trail markings).  I eventually veered off the trail and ended up walking the street back to my car! This time I was determined to stay on the trail, and to walk it from beginning to end.

The first part was longer than I expected, and I didn't see a single soul....it was nice.  Once I got to the red bridge I knew where I was, and I continued on the right trail.  I was surprised to see a river, and the trail was right along it. The sound was great! It wasn't white rapids or anything, but you could definitely hear the rushing of the water. I did see one person kayaking. I took some pictures (see below), but I don't think they really capture the scene good enough. At one point the trail hits a road, and my gut instinct was to turn back, but because I set off to do the entire trail, I pressed on. We actually had to cross the street before I saw another marker, and that part was horribly slanted, and the path hard to determine because it seemed grown in a bit.  By this point I am really tired, and have no idea how far I've walked in terms of miles.  Once I got to the edge of a cornfield there were no more markers. Ugh...what the heck, not again! I couldn't imagine re-walking that horrible path I just endured, so I walked through the wet and muddy cornfield to a road!  Unbelievable. I was pretty mad at myself at this point, and was giving myself pep talks so that I didn't ruin my overall experience.  I hit the road- at least I saw the name of it, so that if I had to call my husband he could find me. I was pretty close to calling him, but I didn't want to fail. Then I saw another road and a bridge, and I thought "hey, isn't that the road I crossed?", so I turned on it and sure enough it was! Now I am back to the river, so I have an idea of where I am, but a little distressed at how much further I need to walk before I reach my car. Although I did take one wrong turn and came back to a spot that I remembered because of the noisy frogs- thank goodness for them. So I turned around...it seems there were 2 orange paths. Still not sure how that happened.  It was starting to get warmer now, and I really wanted a drink! Yes, stupid me left her water in the car!!!! So we walked and walked. My hips were killing me, and my feet were hurting.

Yay, we reached the red bridge! I still had about 2 miles to walk before I reached my car. Instead of staying on the Ramsdell trail, I took the yellow path because it was shorter (and it is my normal path- that I always take when I go hiking), and I avoided the big field because I wanted to stay out of the sun.  Even Maya was tired. When she saw a squirrel, she didn't even chase it, just kept looking at it. At least she was able to drink water all this time (I guess I could have drank from the river too). Towards the end I saw a few people, and I can only imagine what I looked like to them. I heard one say, "nice dog". I don't even know if I responded a 'thank you'. She is a nice dog, and I am glad she's mine. :)

I leashed Maya once we got close, and she knew it!  She basically dragged me to the car.  When I looked at the time it was 2:00! I was gone for 4 hours! Obviously, I did something wrong if this was to be a 7 mile hike. I can do the 4.5 mile hike around the lake in just over an hour, and was expecting to be gone for 3 hours tops! I'm guessing we did about 10 miles, but it felt like 20 miles. Today, my body feels like I ran a marathon. Although I never ran a marathon so I guess I feel what I think it would feel like, to run a marathon.