50-mile Spring Break Wrap-Up

So, I'd wanted to walk at least 50 miles during my spring break, but after my 3-day marathon, I was tired of driving very far just to go walking, so I headed to nearby Carlyle Lake to put on a few miles.

You know you're in a classy place when you see a sign like this at the entrance.

I did a few miles, but I just wasn't feeling it, even though it was nice and sunny. The trail was boring except for a few recent blowdowns. The trails here do these small little loops that mean you actually don't get very far away from anything, so I didn't do many miles.

I spent the next couple of days not walking much--just a few here and there running errands around town, so I had to put in 18 miles this weekend to get to 50. For Saturday, Jeff and I decided that he would ride his bike to Pyramid State Park, where I'd be hiking. He'd get to see some new scenery on the way down there since it's too far for an out-and-back ride from our house, and I would get to try a few of the trails there that I hadn't been on before. I decided to put 30 pounds in the pack (gear + 5 days of food + 2 liters of water), which is more than I should have to carry on the trip at any time except for maybe one day or so when I'll have to do a big resupply with extra food.

This area is a reclaimed mining site full of little lakes, and it was great to see and hear more wildlife than on previous trips, so spring is definitely here. Most of the turtles I saw hopped off their logs and into the lakes before I could get too close, but that big one was sitting pretty close to the trail, and we stared at each other for a while before I headed up the trail. This big turtle family was far enough away not to be threatened by me, I guess, but I scared up a flock of turkeys and saw what I'm pretty sure was a pileated woodpecker. 

My previous visit here was so cold and icy that seeing the sparkling water was nice for a change!

The pack felt really heavy, so I took two 15-minute breaks along the way at conveniently placed picnic tables and made minor adjustments to other gear and my shoes. The weight was manageable, but it slowed me down a bit and motivated me to go through the pack to get rid of stuff to cut some more weight.

By about mile 9, I was getting a little tired and ended up choosing a fairly direct route back to the car to wait for Jeff.

He texted that the wind was slowing him down, so I got out my ground cloth and took a little nap in the sun while waiting. The cool breezes and warm sun made for a good combination, and I was almost asleep when Jeff pulled in. We had briefly considered doing a few hiking miles together after he arrived, but my right foot was sore (again) and his ride had been harder than anticipated because of some strong headwinds, so we quickly abandoned that plan, ate some cold tangerines I'd stashed in a cooler in the trunk, drank our Gatorades, and headed out for some Mexican food on the way home. 

That trip still left me 8 miles short, and I thought that wouldn't be a problem for Sunday, but I hadn't checked the weather and realized too late that an ice/snow storm was coming in, so those 8 miles would be around-town miles. Jeff came with me for a 4-mile loop right after breakfast, braving rain and sleet with me. Once the sleet stopped, I headed back out for another 4-mile loop to finish out my 50-mile spring break.

My total for the month is 64.5 miles, so I'm still on track to hit 100 this month without too much difficulty.

3-Day Marathon, Part 2

Sweet, sweet (although temporary) spring! It's warm today! So warm I actually wore just a t-shirt!

Since it's spring break and I have a bit more evening daylight now that we've sprung our clocks forward, I decided to drive a bit farther and visit the McCully Heritage Project, which was supposed to have quite a lot of trail miles on old logging roads.

When I pulled into the site, two friendly dogs approached and were quickly vying for attention and/or my lunch. Bob, the black one, also promptly peed on the car tire, so I made a mental note to wash the car before returning it to the garage at home.

Nope! You can't have my musubi! 

I got my pack on and went to talk to the site caretakers and check out their maple syrup cooking process before hitting the trails.

Tapping a Black Maple to make maple syrup. 

I started with a 2-mile loop on the northern part of the site to warm up and quickly stripped off my long sleeved shirt. Bob and Amelia, the dogs, stuck with me on this loop, dashing off after interesting smells every once in a while, but mostly sticking to the trail, which I'm sure was familiar to them. I don't think many people had been on the trail since a recent windstorm, so I pulled some decent sized branches off the trail while I walked.

 Neat older signage.

Then it was off to the southern part of the property, which showed a much more complex set of trails/old roads and some serious hills. As I headed out, both dogs again followed along, but Bob didn't make it far and headed back home before crossing the creek and heading up the first big hill. Little Amelia stuck with me, though, running ahead and wondering why I was taking so long to climb the hill. Soon, though, we were both at the top, and she rushed ahead, seemingly oblivious to this possum just off the trail.

Hissing 'possum was unhappy with my proximity. 

As I headed for the part of the property farthest from the entrance, I worried that I might end up carrying Amelia part of the way if she kept following me, but she seemed to have boundless energy and happily chased after a small group of deer and a number of squirrels.

The spring had a picnic table where Amelia and I both took a break.

Thankfully, I wasn't in a hurry because the hills were slowing me down. None of them were particularly long, but they went straight up and straight down from the ridges. Ridgewalking between the hills was really nice, and I needed the uphills for training, but some of the downhills were a bit tedious because of poor footing and deep mud. However, just being outside on a decent day made the trip a worthwhile one. I didn't see anyone else on the trails all day.

Southern Overlook above the Illinois River. 

The best part about this post is that it's in the sun! Each intersection along the trail was marked by a number, making it fairly easy to navigate with the property map.

The mud is still following me...Just a few bad sections, though.

By the last mile or so, Amelia was getting tuckered out, but this cold creek revived her for the last bit of trail. I stayed in the water for a while, too, getting the mud off my shoes, but ice was still visible just upstream of the crossing, so I couldn't keep my feet in it too long.

When I got back, the sap from the syrup-making was bubbling like crazy, had cooked down quite a bit, changing from clear to amber, and smelled like breakfast!

I'd done about 7 miles, making for a total of 26 miles in 3 days, but Amelia probably did an extra mile or two with all her chasing and running about. When we got back to the parking area, she promptly flopped down in a flower bed and looked like she was going to stay there until dinner time.

Overall, even though this place is a bit of a drive, I'm glad I went and will probably go back and do more miles next time. Despite the mud, it has the best hills I've found so far, and I definitely could use more hilly training.

3-Day Marathon, Part 1

So far, March has been much better for hiking than February. As of today, I have hiked/walked 40.5 miles this month, so I'm on track to hit 100 for March. I'm a little behind on my squats and weight loss goals, but I'm making progress in both, so with 1/3 of March gone, it's so far, so good.

Jeff joined me for a 6.5 mile hike in Pere Marquette on March 1 to kick off the month. We were planning to do at least a bit more, but an ice and snow storm was headed our way, so we headed home just in case. We didn't get much ice, but the temps dropped uncomfortably low for a few days. I did a few miles in the cold/wind/snow/ice just to say that I did, but most of my miles during the first full week of March were "around town" miles without a pack.

The past three days, though, I've done a marathon of miles with the pack. First up was a trip back to Weldon Spring Conservation Area, where I'd planned to try for 13.5 miles by doing both the longer and shorter loops of the trail. However...

There's only so much mud I can take. This trail gets a ton of use, and I thought everything would be packed down enough so that even if it was wet from melting snow, the trail would be in ok shape. I was most certainly wrong about that. Mile after mile of muck. Shoe-sucking, gloppy, slippery, sticky muck. Gross. And not particularly good for the trail, either. I was very glad I was hiking with poles to help me stay balanced and upright.

This insole I was testing clearly is not going to work since it won't stay put. 

There were brief periods of respite between muddy sections, but the only place I could make decent time was a less-muddy section up on the highest ridge on the trail overlooking the Missouri River.

Otherwise...so. much. mud. My pretty blue shoes aren't so pretty any more.

The mud got into my shoes, coated my socks, and was squishing between my toes. After 8.5 miles, I called it quits on that trail. I had been out on the trail over an hour longer than I had been on previous trips on that loop, and by that point, I wasn't sure I had enough gumption or daylight to do a second loop. Plus, I wasn't doing the trail any favors by being out there, even though I had plenty of trail-running company. (By the way, trail runners, stop dropping Kleenex all over the place out here. I know you probably aren't doing it intentionally, but it's gross. Get a handkerchief or zip those things into your pockets a bit more securely.)

I used a very cold bottle of water to rinse off my feet and put on clean socks and shoes for the drive to REI and then home.

The next day, I didn't feel like driving anywhere, so I hit the backroads around our town. The following photos are the highlights of the next 10.5 miles.

Well, that's it for highlights. (No, those aren't UFOs in the corner of the pics. Just something on my lens.) The lowlight is that my right foot was killing me after walking that much on pavement even though I'd lightened my pack to just the base weight before heading out. I just really need to not do that kind of distance on pavement anymore. I needed a hot bubble bath and two beers to recover.

So that was 19 miles in 2 days, and even with the poor conditions, those miles were a good start to my spring break. Stay tuned for part 2 of the 3-day marathon!

February Wrap Up + March Goals

Well, my ambitious idea to hike 100 miles in February (made on a rare spring-like January day) was thwarted by freezing cold weather much of the month. When we finally got a weekend with decent hiking weather, I didn't feel well. I needed two long days that weekend to even get close to 100 miles, and in the end, I had just over 50, but I've now lost 10 pounds total, so even though I didn't get much walking in, I did stay mostly on track with my food.

I'm hoping for better weather in March, but the immediate forecast isn't looking too good with both ice and snow in the picture starting tomorrow night. If we get iced in for too long, we might have to break into the giant stash of granola bars I have stocked up for my trip.

March goals:
5 pounds to lose
100 miles to walk (we'll see how that goes this month...)
1000 body weight squats
1000 body weight calf raises

9 mile hike: Silver Lake

Past the middle of February, and I was nowhere near halfway to my February goal, and while temps were still in the teens, the wind had disappeared and I decided to hit the trail for a couple of laps on the 4.5 mile trail at Silver Lake.

I made pretty good time for the first couple of miles since other people had broken trail through our recent snow, but around mile 2, whoever had broken trail had turned around, leaving me to work harder through the snowy trail, but the snow was dry and fluffy without much ice underneath, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

It had been 17 degrees when I hit the trail, so I was hiking fast to stay warm. I shed my windbreaker and hat and tucked them into my fleece like a kangaroo to keep them warm for when I needed them again when the wind picked up.

About 3/4 of a mile before I got back to the trailhead at the end of my first lap, I saw a small group of boy scouts out for their first major hike of the year. They were all bundled up and in high spirits, but I wasn't sure how long that would last.

I picked up the pace quite a bit after that, knowing that I had a cup of coffee waiting for me in the car and hopeful that it would be at least lukewarm after my first 4.5 miles. I spent a few minutes at the trailhead enjoying the tepid coffee and downing a few snacks before hitting the trail for lap #2 and a check on the boy scouts.

I still hadn't seen them after two miles on the out-and-back section of trail, so I knew they weren't moving too fast, but I caught up with them when they were almost done with the lollipop loop at the end of the trail. I was going in the opposite direction around that loop, but they thanked me for breaking trail for them earlier. After their group had mashed down more of the snow, I was able to go faster, too, and it wasn't long before I finished that loop myself and headed back toward the trailhead.

I was tired of being out in the cold, so it was full speed ahead for me. I picked up some sunglasses dropped by one of the scout leaders and passed all the boys and leaders one by one. Most of the guys seemed to be doing ok, but I felt bad for a few of the boys. One had an overbearing father who was trying to speed up the boy by getting him to lengthen his stride. I offered the kid some Oreos, but he said he was ok. Another leader had told them to make their hiking poles as tall as their shoulders, so those with poles were struggling to keep them under control. Between the cold and the less-than-helpful advice they had from their mentors, the kids weren't quite as perky as they'd been when I first met them.

Soon, I was back to the trailhead. I had thought about going back out to add a couple more miles before heading home, but since temps were still in the teens, I headed home for a hot bath and a beer instead.

Minimal Progress

Well, my ambitious February goal was set when the weather was nice and before I knew that February would be cold, wet, windy, and cold. Did I mention cold? I made minimal progress toward my goal in the first days of the month as rain, snow, ice, and wind kept me inside and off the trails.

A highlight of the first half of the month was that Jeff got me a musubi maker straight from Japan, so I can make real musubis now instead of the Big Musubis I was trying to make with a small loaf pan I had.

February 8, I decided to take a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk on a new interstate bridge that hadn't been opened to traffic yet. The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial bridge now carries I-70 from Illinois into St. Louis, but it opened for pedestrian traffic the day before it opened to cars. 

I thought that temps in the teens and windy conditions might keep people away, but people came out and my shuttle from downtown was full of retirement-aged white people bundled for a blizzard, a couple of grandchildren they'd dragged along to this historic event, and one possibly homeless dude blasting Sandi Patty's Star Spangled Banner on repeat through a tinny speaker for the duration of the ride. Sandi Patty was still going to strong as he crossed the bridge.

All the people coming onto the bridge from the Illinois side were dressed in camo. Those from the St. Louis side more commonly sported North Face or even fur. 

 I had planned to walk at least a few miles while in StL, but the wind drove me off the bridge, back into the warm shuttle, and into a cozy bar to enjoy some duck tacos before heading home.

10 mile hike: Pyramid State Park

I've set a goal to walk 100 miles in February, but nasty rain and sleet kept me inside on Feb. 1, so I needed to get out on the 2nd and headed to Pyramid State Park for a lap around the 10 mile trail there.

My husband and I first went there over a year ago for a short hike when I had just gotten the lightweight trail runners that would change my ability to hike. I went again in the summer to try a trail with some weight in an old backpack and found that the old pack didn't fit so well, that hundreds of ticks crawling up my pant legs makes for an unpleasant hike, and that wasps in the outhouses (coupled with those ticks on nearly every piece of vegetation) meant that it was a good time to figure out a way to pee standing up. The trails here are wide and easy, and I wanted to come back when the ticks weren't out.

It was 26 degrees when I hit the trail. Dressing for hiking in cold weather can be a challenge because you don't want to get sweaty since that leads to chills. I decided on just a T-shirt and fleece jacket on top and lightweight wool long johns under my regular hiking pants. I was chilly for the first ten minutes or so but soon warmed up. Everything but my face was staying warm, so I pulled out a bandana to get my nose warmed up. I think I'm going to spend my REI dividend this year on a wool buff/balaclava to keep my face warmer and so I don't look like a bandit, but that dividend won't come in until most of the cold weather is gone for the year. 

Pyramid is a reclaimed mining site, so it's full of little lakes. In the summer, I saw fox, a snake, and deer, but today, I see only birds, though I hear a few deer crashing through the woods. This site is popular during hunting season, but I've never seen another hiker here. I saw mushroom hunters, a few fishermen, and a couple of equestrians during the summer, but today I saw just one person in a truck (maybe a ranger), and no one on the trails. There was another set of footprints from today on the shortest loop in the area, but it had been at least a few days, maybe more, since anyone else except deer had been on the longer loop.

Most of the trail surface was covered in leaves, with a few sections of rocks and gravel. The rain and sleet from the day before meant that everything on the trail was ice covered and crunchy. If bubble wrap were made out of ice and you stepped on it instead of popping it with your hands, that would be the kind of surface I walked on today. You could see every footprint in the crackled ice I broke with every step. I did slip and fall one time when I hit an icy rock. My left foot hit the rock and slid down behind and across my right foot in a move much like that of doing a crossover in speedskating, except I didn't get my right foot picked up in time to catch myself, so I went down on my hip but it wasn't too hard of a fall. I had a few falls like that when I was learning speedskating, so the fall felt familiar and I just popped back up and kept going.

There's not much to talk about scenery-wise in the winter when everything looks brown and dead, but this rock sort of looks like Minnesota if you ignore the upper left corner.

I don't spend a lot of time on breaks when it's this chilly out since that means breaking out another jacket to stay cool while I'm stopped, so the only time I sat down during the trek was for a 3-minute break to grab some snacks at a picnic table under a shelter (one of the few non-ice-covered surfaces I saw today), but I quickly decided to keep moving since I still felt pretty good. I was also trying out a new pair of shoes (Saucony Peregrins), so I wanted to beat up my feet pretty good today to see how they worked. The jury is still out on them, but they did ok. I'll test them out more before I review them here.

Pyramid has a number of walk-in camping sites that get almost no use as far as I can tell. This one is a bit over a mile from the regular campground, which also gets almost no use. I did an out-and-back to this furthest campsite to be sure I got a full 10 miles in since I think the regular loop is closer to 9 miles instead of 10.

The cold and lack of breaks started catching up to me in the last mile or so. I kept up a pretty good pace just to stay warm, but I was starting to drag and was ready to get back to my car. Thankfully, the last mile is easy and goes through an area with pine, so the trail is softer because of the needles.

This isn't a demanding trail, but I enjoy it for the solitude and because once you start the long loop, you're committed to doing the miles, so there's little temptation to bail out like I did at Pere Marquette last weekend. I'll try to come back here again before the ticks come out in force and/or use Permethrin on my clothes when I do come back.