A Challenge

All my adult life I've been into challenges that would include endurance.

In college, I was on the first ever Cross Country team that school had. I tried out and got a spot on the team. Back then you couldn't buy women's running shoes. I was wearing canvas deck shoes for my try out.
I eventually got a pair of boys size 6 leather Adidas. They were heavy, and ugly but they were running shoes.

In my 20's I enjoyed 5 and 10K's. I tried a half marathon 13.1 miles, but didn't enjoy it much. I think I was trying too hard and the temperatures at that race were surprisingly hot.

I turned to bicycling in my 30's. I could bike to work, I could bike on the trails close by. Eventually, my sister and I did a 48 hour trip on our bikes. We traveled 140 miles in two days. We crossed off another adventure.

For a while I didn't do anything in the distance arena until I moved to where I currently live. I met a lady who did Endurance Riding on her Arab. I joined her on my mule named Badger. He loved it. We rode 25 mile rides. We never 'won' anything. It wasn't a 'race'. It was all about getting from point A to B with an animal in excellent shape.

When I lost Badger, I took up casual hiking. Nothing intense, nothing tough, and mostly just walking along the woods and county parks with my dog looking for scenery.

In January of 2018 I decided to try the Kickapoo Valley Trail Challenge. Hikers could get a list of all the trails at the Reserve and hike each one, marking them off. The Challenge was to finish all 68+ miles in one year. That got sidetracked but I finally accomplished that goal in 2022. It involved many short hikes but I learned all of the trails in the 8,900 acre Reserve. 

Since then, I've done fun hiking. When I go with Charlie we just move along at his pace. I stop often to look at things and just dawdle along if I feel like it.

I did a route that is used for the Tromp and Chomp when I turned 65. I enjoyed that long distance hike so much, that I do it every year to celebrate my birthday now.

I recently saw a cool challenge called the Mammoth March Wisconsin ~ It offers a hike challenge of 20 or 30 miles in one day.  It is a registered event and you get goodies for doing it. However, it is 3 hours away from where I live and I'd need coverage at home.

The state of Wisconsin also has the Ice Age Trail. That is something I'd love to do...at least portions of it. Unfortunately I can't spend that kind of time away from home. I'd be travelling all over the state to do segments.

When I visited my son, his wife, and Rory, we hiked part of the Ice Age Trail. Those guys are doing  monthly hiking challenges on the Ice Age Trail.  Of course, that got me thinking.

Why not set up an unofficial challenge for myself? Why not see if I can match that 20 miler? Is it even possible for an old 'fart' to do that?

So I sat down and got my map of KVR out, marked the trails out with mileage from their information and created what I thought was a 10 mile loop.

I figured that on the rough terrain, Charlie and I usually do about 25 to 30 minutes a mile. In my estimate, that would take me 4 hours give or take.

Our usual long hikes together are at least 6 miles. I figured 10 would be a cool goal. IF I could do 6, I could do 10, if I could do 10 I could shoot for 15. Well, you see the pattern, right?

I misjudged the mileage or the GPS did. No matter. Below is a screen capture of my Saturday hike.

 I did not take Charlie. I wanted to hike steady without all the breaks that we take together. Plus I didn't want to carry him as I usually do. 

I thought this would be a good indicator of my abilities. 

Things I learned. I could walk/hike hard for over 3 hours. I picked the right shoes for it too. My Trail Runners provided my feet with better support than my hiking boots. My backpack sucks. SUCKS. Really sucks. [It is a cheap backpack from Wally world]. 

I can hike fast! For a few of the miles, I maintained 15 minute miles!

The average time overall that included 3 stops to talk to people who asked me questions -- and pee breaks [yes, that happens!] was doing

18 minutes a mile.

I routed my hike so that the first 8 miles were the rough stuff. The up and down hills, over rocks, roots, and stumps stuff. The last 2.5 miles was along a paved bike/walking trail.

My body appreciated that.

I told hubby that my feet got tender at 8 miles. At 9 I wondered about my sanity. At 9.5 they stopped hurting. No, they didn't go numb. They just stopped hurting. At 10 miles I thought, okay...I should be finished.

I wasn't. I had nearly another mile and a half to get to my car. But I felt energized and confident and quite frankly, a bit full of myself.

I did a Thing! I did a self Challenge!

And, I was not sore on Sunday morning!

Some pictures. I didn't take too many.

Kickapoo River Bridge 15

Mile 5 looking out across the Valley from 
Hanson Rock Trail.

Mile 9 looking back at Hanson Rock trail from the valley!

The pink arrow below shows you where I was on the Ridge.

Just cool trails near Hanson Rock Ridge.

And....mini me....

Happy Trails!

What a nice hike!

 

Another great hike in the books!

The two images above show how different devices record one's hiking or trekking. My MapMyWalk app said we did 8.6 miles, Candace's Google Pixel watch recorded 9.35 miles.

Who cares? It was a nice long walk/hike. 

The morning started out very foggy. I mean fog like pea soup fog! It had rained off and on all day for Saturday so I expected we'd find some soggy places.

After meeting in the parking lot, we set off. Our shoes instantly got soaked with the wet grass and we jumped or stepped over muddy puddles. I quipped that it looked like we'd get wet feet right away. And we did.

That did not dampen Candace's or her daughter's spirit. They were excited and happy to explore trails on a foggy wet morning. 

I asked her to tell me more about herself. We often meet up at the gym and have short conversations about work outs or other subjects. But a long walk is a great way to learn about someone else. 

I learned a lot about Candace and her daughter on our walk. 

Our feet got wet a few times. We were able to avoid the standing water on low spots and other times we couldn't. So we'd get wet feet and then they'd dry out again, only to get wet again. Shoes and feet wash!

The bugs actually were not as bad as I thought they might be, but bug spray was used especially while walking in the low areas next to the Kickapoo River.

The sun came out just before we were midway through our hike. The woods and nature were amazing and beautiful. 

Below---> Candace and her daughter.

We stopped around 7 miles where we found a flush of oyster mushrooms and several other tiny mushrooms growing along the trail. We peered at beautiful mosses and scenery while we had a short snack break.

When we got back to the parking lot, Candace asked if they could go again. Sure! I asked her if she wanted to do a hard hike. I had planned on my next one being a more technically difficult hike around Hanson's Rock. It involves steep hills and some careful foot placement around rocks and roots.

She and her daughter said they'd love the challenge.

During the hike, I only took my camera out twice. I didn't think of taking photos of the trail or of us. I didn't do selfies. I just enjoyed the company of others who walked with me.

What a perfect morning.