@KateOahu

At age 70, it's hard to find women hiking partners. Their husbands died and they moved to be close to their grandkids. Dementia, cancer, broken hips, dizziness... the list goes on.

I had foot surgery in April 2023 that took over 10 months to heal. That blew my Spring, summer and Fall hiking. Now I'm back to running. Yay!

Personality matters. I won't hike with Gro because she is an angry, critical person. She takes off like a locomotive and disappears. It's like hiking alone.

@LiterateHiker I don’t do anything with angry, critical people.

@Moravian

That's the problem with changing your hiking destination in the car. We originally headed for Devil's Gulch. Then the group changed our destination to Tibbits Mountain that's much higher.

None of us brought micro-spikes, snowshoes or an ice axe. We were equipped for Devil's Gulch.

It was an early Spring hike, not a winter hike.

I'm sorry about the death of your friend.

@LiterateHiker I tend to forget that spring arrives earlier in your part of the world. Although we have had an incredibly mild spell lately. The temp reached 20C in NW Scotland last week but winter is far from over.

@LiterateHiker My last winter climb was Braeriach in the Cairgorms. That's me at the summit where unfortunately it was cloudy

@Moravian

Beautiful! I love snowshoeing in winter. The landscape is elegant and simplified covered in snow. Animal footprints show who lives there.

@LiterateHiker Beautiful country

@jackjr

The beauty of nature and having fun make hikes memorable, not adrenaline.

@LiterateHiker But the adrenaline is still there from your posts. This reminds me of an interesting experiment done by a young woman with a theory about adrenaline and emotions. She made some calling cards and took a list of questions and went to a bridge in Vancouver BC. It was just a normal bridge and she pretended to be doing a survey about some subject. She would ask young men questions and then give them her calling card in case they had more questions. She then went to the famous suspension bridge (I have been there and it is scary) and did the same routine. She then went home and waited to see who would call. Of course almost all the calls came from the suspension bridge. This reconfirmed her theory the flow of adrenaline is often mistaken for love.
My little sister came to Bellingham and was looking for a partner which she thought she found. I mentioned to her I love to drive along Chuckanut drive and she said she had been on that road several times with hew friend Eric on his motorbike. I had to laugh as later, when she got to really know him, she realized he was not who she thought he was and she left. Maybe the adrenaline helps you better appreciate the scenery.

@jackjr

Backpacking in Olympic National Park in my 20's, we came across a suspended bridge across a deep gorge. Tim and Ken crossed first. When I got to the middle of the bridge- I was top-heavy with a 40-lb. backpack- they began jumping up and down on their end of bridge, making it bounce and sway madly.

"STOP IT!" I screamed repeatedly. “You will make me fall!"

Laughing uproariously, they thought it was hilarious. After getting across I yelled at them. They apologized. MEN.

@jackjr

Will you stop with the adrenaline? That's your experience, a typical male perspective. Rodeo springs to mind.

I was lucky to be born with heightened senses: taste, touch, smell, sight, sound. This gives me an intense, sensual experience of life. I love the soft rattling of millions of Aspen leaves. Crushing tips of sagebrush and cedar trees and savoring the fragrance. Impressionist art.

Sometimes it is exhausting to be inside my own skin. I need deep sleep- eight hours every night- to reset my nervous system. Exercise and meditation ground me.

At the Portland, Oregon Rose Garden, I ran from rose-to-rose having mini-orgasms. “OH! Smell this one!” and “Wow! Look at this one!” “Mmmmm…Ah!” After an hour I had olfactory overload. Couldn’t smell a thing.

@LiterateHiker On the Vancouver suspension bridge the numbers allowed were limited but it was still full. A lot of kids and teenagers thought it was funny to jump up and down and make it sway even more. Maybe not just men but infantile ones.

@LiterateHiker That's not just my experience. It was a valid study and my sister's giving into it only made it more real. We are animals with animal instincts. There have been many studies of which males and females sexual instincts can drive them to do certain things of which they are not aware. Science is blind and doesn't take sides just like nature.

@jackjr

Cite your sources. I always do. Post links to the "many studies" showing who did the research, methodology, size of group studied, etc.

I have a Master degree. I want to see research that backs up your claim.

@LiterateHiker Sorry, I refuse to play this whack a mole game. We are animals and, as such, often behave like animals (do I need proof of this!?). In matters of procreation we use animal instincts to guide us. Some call it 'chemistry' and I call it what it is-natures way of furthering evolution through getting two creatures together to mate. Nature cares not a bit about happiness and chemistry is for fools.
There have been many, many studies on this subject. One famous one is men wearing undershirts for a number of days and then giving those sweaty shirts to women to hold next to their faces. Many were attracted to a or several specific shirts from the pheromones present. Another famous one involved a study done in Vienna where researchers asked women to engage in an experiment that took plane in a popular disco. The researchers only asked to women to get a swab upon entering and to be allowed to being filmed. The swab helped the researchers determine where the women were on their cycle. Then it was shown that the closer to their ovulation the skimpier and more suggestive the women would act toward the men.
Don't expect me to sit here and do a long search just to satisfy another. Even if I did so there would be more demands. If one really cares they will do the research themselves. Having a master's means nothing to me. I also have a grad level certificate.

@Betty

Thank you, Betty! Tibbits Mountain is close to where I live.

@LiterateHiker Lovely to look at but you could never talk me into climbing it. lol
A nice convenience to have it close by. Do you climb it often?

@Betty

No, I prefer getting away from civilization. On Tibbits Mountain the view is basically the city of Cashmere, WA.

@LiterateHiker The scenery is beautiful. What lovely memories you are making.

@RichCC

Wow! Glad you are okay.