Well Eight Miles in the Rain is Certainly No Stroll Down Broadway...but Safer Maybe

 Today was the day for my annual hike in Dogwood Hollow. It sounds like a forested adventure, but out in Western Oklahoma, it's more of a clamber over rocks. This morning it was a clamber over wet rocks, but thankfully, the misty, moisty morning quit drizzling after a mile or two and we enjoyed perfect hiking weather. This picture was taken toward the beginning of the hike when the fog was palpable.

 These are my energetic sophomores. They are great kids, fun to be with and not a speck of any trouble...well not usually anyway.

These two had suffered basketball-related ankle injuries earlier this season, so I wasn't sure they could make the whole hike. We planned to stop and turn around if they got tired. Fortunately, one of them just got braces yesterday and was on pain medicine, so nothing hurt. The other one was determined...so we actually made it through the entire hike, even finished ahead of the other group.

 To be fair, I'll have to explain that they took a few stops to play in the water and catch crawdads and frolic, running up and down the hills.

 And then...one of them ran into a cactus and the spines got him right through his tennis shoes. It took them a little time to clean those out.

 Unlike the last two years, there has been abundant water this year. Last week they got about six inches of rain. What a difference that made! There were little creeks and waterfalls everywhere. I had trouble recognizing the trail a few times and we had to climb up onto the mountain and scan the countryside for it.

 I had to take a picture of this little island. I don't know why. It just looked whimsical.

 And here is the old Civilian Conservation Corps Dam from the Depression Era. This time, though, it actually had water spilling over the side.

 Sometimes we climbed...no actually...lots of times we climbed. Only once did we collapse to catch our breath after a particularly hard climb.

One of my charges had never hiked before. She's from California and has been raised mostly in cities. "So this is a hike," she murmured softly after stepping in the first mud puddle and slipping off the first creek rock. Thankfully, she was the one on pain meds. for her new braces. There she is, peeking out from behind Tori.

Tori used to ride with me every morning to school...back when she was a boisterous seventh-grader. Sometimes she took the pictures I didn't have time to stop for. Today, she took her own, because the weather was perfect and the colors bright.  The grass was green, the water blue-gray, and the rocks as red as Oklahoma dirt.

 I really liked the look of this cactus mound, next to the cedar brush with the spiky bare branches of a winter tree in the background.

It was really even more beautiful there. Wish you had all been along for the day.

 We climbed and clambered and kept our cameras in hand. We enjoyed the scenery, but had to watch our feet too--lots of little rocks---and lots of big rocks too, come to think of it.

 Here are some flowers I captured for my granddaughter Mim's collection.

 And this one was taken while looking down from a forty-foot overlook onto a little creek far below.

 There were lots and lots of clear creeks like these. If it had been warmer, we would have cooled our toes, but it was not too tempting today.

 Even the fish and crawdads seemed to be hiding, and the snakes and lizards were snug in dens.
No frogs. No turtles. That's quite unusual for this time of the year, but the unseasonal cool weather may be the explanation for that.

We saw a few wild turkeys in the distance, and one lone goose in the water, a few buffalo, two deer, crossing the road right in front of us, a few long-horned cattle in a pasture, and a multitude of prairie dogs.  If you look at this picture, you can see the turkeys, right about the center, in that little clearing.

We ended the day by going to the "Holy City" for a picnic lunch. It's an interesting site where a permanent backdrop for a yearly Easter pageant makes another great place to stroll around. I climbed up a hill for a final look and took these last shots for the day.

Until next year...and next...and as many years as I'm able...I'll hike the hike...but right now, I'm just going to rest my feet.

A Picnic in May on a Hot, Windy Day

 When my own children were young, we used to hike in the Wichita Mountains. Now that the grandchildren are visiting, we've renewed the tradition. No, we didn't take the eight-mile Buffalo Trail. We had a lot to do in one day, and the temperature was approaching ninety degrees, so we just hiked a little ways--less than a mile actually, although it included quite a bit of climbing. Since there was a great breeze, it didn't feel as hot as I knew it was.

 That was fine with us, but it sure messed up Mim's posing for the camera. She always had to hold her hair out of her face.

 I liked the look of the swirly clouds and the little trees against the sky here.

 There were plenty of rocks and stumps to clamber over, and the wild flowers were vivid.

 We saw a cosy little bench near the end of the trail, but, since it was not in the shade, it wasn't tempting in the least.

 In the distance--a lake beckoned. Nope, we didn't swim in it, but we did make it back to the creek at the beginning of this article, where two squealing grandchildren scampered around to cool down, chasing fish that were as long as their feet, but swifter.

Sunset Hike

Turtle and I went hiking last night out north of town. By the looks of that piled up cloud ahead, we were risking a storm, but that didn't deter us at all.

In fact, if our getting soaked on a hike means rain has come at last, we are up to the sacrifice.



Anyway, true to form for any trip with Turtle, we left a little later than we wanted to, so our planned four-mile endeavor turned into a hurried three-mile jaunt, with the last mile rather nervously trudged along an old railroad track... within the range of coyote yips.

For the first mile, we walked between two pastures: one full of bored black cattle and the other full of the setting sun. I kept stopping to take pictures and getting hit by turtle, who was carrying a twenty-five pound pack.

He's getting ready for a real hike with some friends--a backpacking excursion in the mighty Ozarks, back where there are real streams and roads that go up and down and around bends. So far there are four or five men going, and most of them are in great physical shape.

I'm a little worried about Turtle keeping up with them. However, he assures me that he won't have any trouble. His twenty-five pound pack will be lighter than what he has been carrying on his body for the last five years.

Turtle's lost thirty pounds since January. However, he hasn't been exercising at all, so his muscles and bones were complaining a little yesterday evening. As for the hike? Well, he'll plod along behind, I'm sure, but then he's always been a plodder. We didn't just randomly pick Turtle for his nickname.

This evening we'll try it again, hiking out into the country. Maybe there'll be another beautiful sunset or promising storm. I'll carry a little backpack myself, maybe fifteen pounds or so. There's no use in over doing it.

 So, what will I carry in it? I think some bear mace, a squirt bottle full of ammonia for coyotes, a snakebite kit, and a sturdy stick to knock the rattlers off the railroad tracks. 

I'm a real wilderness gal.

Sophomores and a Seven Mile Hike

This is what they looked like at the beginning of the hike--almost running. It's a lovely day, cool, brisk, perfect for a long hike and so preferable to sitting in desks...















Halfway through the hike. Some took the wrong trail, but they arrived here in time for the all important class picture.
















The trip home. I think the hike was a little more strenuous than they thought it would be. Ah well. They are young. This little nap will restore all the energy they lost.