Hike with Distancing

Teri used to be my neighbor. When they moved in and had their little boy, I babysat for them on my time off from being a Security Guard. Teri and I made a community veggie garden together and they helped out while I was running Rich back and forth for cancer treatments.

Teri's door was always open and I leaned on her often. I used to take her children on hikes with me and we foraged for food in the woods together. Don't get me wrong,....I love the neighbors I have now too! How could I be so lucky to get 12 yrs of fantastic young neighbors!

Her daughter is now 16 and driving. Imagine my surprise at seeing her driving Teri's Subaru. Kids. Stop getting older...it makes me feel older.

 Spring Beauties

Wintergreen with leftover

berries

Pine Moss

or Club Moss

Hepatica

found just above 

one of the ice caves.

Powder Lichen

growing on Moss

We found 100's

of Skunk Cabbage!

And of course a superhero. I always carry tiny toys and when the kids said..."Oh this would be a great spot for some toys!" 

I whipped out some toys and tossed them to the kids. The toys ended up in skunk cabbage, in moss, in a tiny iced waterfall ... and other places.

Here is a sample of what happens when we get a touch of rain and then have warm days and very cold nights that are in the teens.

January....

We had a blast and climbed around in the ice caves which are pretty much melted, but the kids are explorers.  We were surprised at the amount of spring beauties we saw coming up through the leaves. 
Indeed this route was going to become explosive with colors in a few weeks.

Everyone was very good about keeping their distance. One of us would find something and point to it, then back off for the other party to look at it.

Our hike was successful! We all enjoyed a long afternoon in the cold fresh air and made plans to hike again. Hopefully. Teri's schedule is busy.

It's okay not to be okay....

The other day I got an email from our CrossFit coach, Josh, that was a mini read by a man named Jon Gordon. I looked him up and he is an author of what I would classify as 'Self Help' promotions and books. You can read about him at the link if you like.

But the email addressed the fact that it IS okay not to Feel Okay right now. Of course he offered words of encouragement that really struck a cord with me. I've gone back to read those words more than once in the past few days.

Because with the mounting death tolls of the Coronavirus, the politics, the demonstrations, the economic outlook, and then the possibility of staring this thing in the face for a very long time...
well, it seems that there is no more normal.
Everything I thought I had planned out for our future is no longer our future.

I texted my neighbor and CrossFit friend who I haven't seen for weeks and we met up on a back road to take a walk. A Distancing Walk with Charlie to just talk and just walk. We used to kid each other that we were the Elderly CrossFit people.

I stopped Bill and said I needed a photo of him in Tainter Land. He quipped that I'd ruin the scenery and the photo of course.

No, it didn't Bill.

We talked about our futures and ideas. He has worked for a nursing home so we have no misconceptions about aging and futures but only to try hard to stay healthy and fit. We talked about 'at what point' do we give up our homes?
In light of recent events we discussed our luck in living a rural area. At the same time rural wouldn't be so great as we aged.

We didn't talk gloom and doom our whole time. Most of the walk was spent marveling at the scenery. Bill kept commenting on how amazing Charlie was with his tiny legs and seemingly boundless energy.
Bill talked endlessly about his grand children and how much he enjoyed having them around. The things he still wanted to show them and do with them.

We discovered the 'first' violet coming up on the valley floor. We spotted Virginia Bluebells all over the valley as we walked. We marveled at how the floods in recent years had wrapped trees around other trees, changed the flow of the stream, and piled boulders and rocks in so many odd places.

I took photos with my Infrared Converted camera and explained light spectrums as best I could with some limited knowledge.

We did as two people would do. We walked ... distanced... and talked. We enjoyed the outdoors and sunshine.

Maybe in that time we learned a lesson from Charlie.

Just live in the moment for right now...

And it is okay ... not to feel okay.
But we are trying not to let it bring us down.

Public Lands...

I went hiking....

with a friend and we practiced being 'distant' and hiking at the same time. Charlie led us and led the way most of the time.

This photo is from the top edge of this rock...points down....

and then since my friend is afraid of heights, Charlie and I went to admire the view and do a little dance!

After weeks in 'solitary' it felt like I had the whole world at my feet.
It was amazing how it felt.

There were actually quite a few vehicles parked at the trail head when we got back. 40 State Parks and Natural Areas have been closed by the Governor because of vandalism and trash.

I hope that our areas don't suffer the same consequences as we are far more rural. However I got messages from others saying they wanted to come...and I noted that if it was further than 30 miles or a half hour drive ...they really are NOT supposed to travel.

Now there is the issue. I feel for those trapped in cities and suburban areas with no outlet. Overcrowding, vandals, and general disrespect are awful things to do to your own natural areas and state parks. At one time this year I was considering myself too isolated from the rest of the world and thought about how nice it would be to be nearer my son in a more city like setting.

And today I wonder if our part of the state will see its public lands closed. Our County is taking it day by day. We have 4 county parks that are amazing for hiking, all it takes is a few bad apples.

I am ever so MORE grateful that I am not in the city or suburbs. I can walk out the back door and have peaceful moments in our creek bottom and hike a fairly large swath of unpopulated land. In the 20+ years I have lived here, I've only run across people twice. Both times it was because I 'let' them see me.

We must respect our lands for what else will we have left???