Last Wednesday, Karen and I hiked above Squilchuck State Park. With a sudden heat wave (42 degrees), snow and ice were sliding off trees in the woods. Whomp!
We were surrounded by round impressions in the snow of different sizes.
"Karen, what kind of tracks are these?" I asked. She is great at identifying animal tracks.
"That's where snow and ice fell off the trees," Karen replied.
"I'm such an idiot!" I replied, laughing. "And I've been hiking for 44 years."
Instantly, I got clobbered. An ice ball hit me on the head. That drove home the point.
What's an idiotic question you once asked?
taken to secluded cabin inCanada, the guide
pointed out bear scat and told me to not go
far from cabin. Later that nite a racket awakened
me ,,,I thought a wild animal was ripping the roof
off. In morning I realized the cabin was located in grove of oak trees that had in the heavy night winds had shaken off thier burden of Acorns onto the tin roof ,,,ooopps
There have been so many.....it is my one talent in life. I also suffer from foot in mouth disease?
The only idiotic questions are the ones that don’t end with a question mark.
I don't usually ask idiotic/dumb questions but I've sure been asked a few in my time though.
One that happens ever so often is when I've been walking along that leads out of town and I'm on the return trip, a Tourist will pull up their car and caravan and ask, while I'm taking a break UNDER a road sign that clearly says, Broken Hill, 5 kms ahead, is, " Excuse me sir, but can you tell me in what direction Broken Hill is?"
I used to give the right directions and point to the sign but these days, I think that if the idiot can't see/read a sign with letters, etc, 12 inches high on it then they deserve to be told, " Mate, just do a 180 turn, head back to the next left turn in the road and keep going for a 10 kms."
Not a question but that strange moment when you are stationary in traffic and the vehicles around you move forward and you think you are going backwards! Or is that just me??
@mzbehavin oh wow. Isn’t it weird!
Speaking of idiotic questions, yesterday I received a message from a 39-year-old man in Brampton, Ontario, 2,467 miles away.
"What are your favorite trails?" he asked. My reply:
"I doubt you would recognize the trail names, except maybe the first.
"Pacific Crest Trail above Stevens Pass; Minotaur Lake, Theseus Lake and Labyrinth Mountain; Mt. McCausland, Lake Colchuck; Ingalls Creek; Tronsen Ridge; Ski Hill; Mission Ridge Ski Area, Clara and Marion Lakes; trails above Squilchuck State Park; Rock Mountain; Sauer's Mountain, Pipeline Trail; Fourth of July Trail, Glacier View Trail; Nason Ridge High Alpine Lookout; Olympic National Park; Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area; Wind River Range, etc. Too many to list. Kathleen"
Even if he is a stalker, he would never know when we are on a certain trail. We rarely see the same person twice.
Several times, I have kicked myself for not giving my phone number to a single, male hiker who stopped to talk with me.
"You will see him on the trail again," Karen says. I never do.
I have thought about printing cards with my name and phone number.
Well this isn't a question but was a major blond moment. Yesterday I was driving down a winding hill on my way to work. I couldn't figure out why my windshield defroster wasn't working. Finally realized it was just foggy out.
I know I've asked a lot of dumb questions over the years but nothing is coming to mind at the moment
Hilarious! I have pockets of naiveté, too.
Apropos of nothing with all this talk about hiking, I'm curious if you use a FitBit or similar device at all. Mine was instrumental (ha) in getting me to a goal of 10,000 steps per day. They tend to get you competing against yourself. I find that my model (the Charge HR) is pretty spot-on with the heart rate monitors on gym equipment also.
They also track "flights of stairs" (roughly, near as I can tell, the # of times you've gone up in elevation about 10 feet) which would probably be interesting to a mountain hiker.
Every once in awhile they email me a "badge" such as the Italy Badge, indicating that I've walked the equivalent of the length of that country since I started tracking. You get little showers of confetti on their dashboard when you exceed a target # of minutes per day of "fat burning" exertion, etc. Silly, but it is motivating.
Instead, I track my hikes on Excel with the date, destination, comments (need high-clearance vehicle; overgrown bushes scratched car, etc.), miles and elevation gain.
In 2018, I hiked 242 miles with 42,585 feet of elevation gain (and loss). Unfortunately I missed six weeks of hiking due to wildfire smoke, two sinus infections and pneumonia.
2017 was a record year with 326 miles and 63,289 feet of elevation gain (and loss).
@LiterateHiker Hm. For me, 1 mi = about 2100 steps so 242 miles would very roughly equate to 50 walks of 10,000 steps (although for me a typical day probably involves up and down only about 300 ft). You are getting more of your exercise from elevation change, I'm guessing. That makes a big difference. That, and more uneven ground. Pace matters, too.
My wife likes to point out that she goes the same distance on fewer steps, though, due to her wider pelvis creating a longer stride, and her FitBit data bears this out; when we walk together, I always record more steps than she. I had never considered that women might tend to have longer strides for this reason. So ... for that reason you are probably going further than the above rough numbers would suggest. Anyway thanks for sharing.
Also, I enjoy running and weightlifting. Don't track my running miles.
@LiterateHiker outstanding
The first "journalistic" interview I ever conducted, for a local newspaper which had invited pupils from local schools to write articles on people making a positive difference in our community... "How much can a nature reserve voluntary warden expect to be paid?"
Love the Pic. He's one of my favorite favorite artists.
@Jnei _ It is of fair quality. I bought it in a used furniture shop near Cleveland, OH. About that same time, I was fortunate enough attend this showing: [albrightknox.org]
In a new land, it’s too easy.. A couple years ago I asked my neighbor if ‘Those are agates’ on the hillside..? “Them rocks?” he responded. Here on the Blue Ridge, once under the weight of ‘Himalaya sized mountains,’ there’s Quartz galore!
‘Them rocks’ (I of course hiked up to check out) were 4 foot lengths of visible ‘milk quartz.’ I’ve seen them the size of VW Bugs! The soil here sparkles with their powdered dust! ..thus ‘new age’ crazies congregate, too..
The rest of my ‘dumb questions’ center around trees, or politics, directions, or weather, or insects, sometimes birds.. even words