I'm with Stupid!

I went on my first solo hike today to Dinsmore Woods State Nature Preserve in Boone County, Kentucky. Hence the title of this blog post! It was great to get in two hikes this weekend and I'm so thankful for the great weather that allowed this to happen. I can already tell that the "Inexperienced Hiker" is slowly gaining experience and I mean slowly. The temperature was 44 degrees and the hike was 1.83 miles long. The hike took me one hour.

When I pulled into the parking lot I saw the Dinsmore Homestead historical site. I didn't take time to explore the site and would like to go back and do this another time. I did get a chance to check out the family cemetery that was at the top of the hill that led to the trail head. Truthfully, I was catching my breath. It was quite a hill and the six or so beers that I drank last night to help root on the Bengals weren't doing me any favors at this point either! I tried to take a picture of the sign marking the trail, but my battery quickly died on my i touch - right after I checked the time. I tried to get out my cell phone and quickly realized I didn't have it with me. Mistake number one of this hike: hiking alone without a phone. I didn't wear a watch and couldn't get the i touch to power back on.  This unsettled me a little, but I figured I was being a whimp. There's something about knowing you have that phone should you have any problems...

The trail was narrow and very hilly.  The book warned me about one thing that makes this hike more difficult are the dead trees lying across the trail, however, these must have been taken care of since the publishing of the book, because I didn't have any trouble with this. I think this hike was the hardest hike so far because of the steepness of the hills. I had to stop mid-hill three different times to catch my breath (...maybe it was those beers?) What was totally amazing about this location were the views. It felt like I was at the highest point for miles and it was beautiful.  It was very cool to see the Ohio River in the distance.

This trail was not as clearly marked as the previous two hikes. By that, I mean there was leaf cover that was the same on the trail as it was throughout the rest of the woods. This was why I had map in hand the entire time. From reading the write up, I knew that the trail might be difficult to follow at times. At one point, I got to a clearing and couldn't really tell if I was on the trail or not. All I could see were leaves at my feet every where!  My heart started beating a little faster as I thought about not having my phone.  I also didn't have a compass with me. Stupid! I thought to myself, don't panic! That won't help anything. So I took in my surroundings and kept going using my intuition. Fortunately the trail from time to time had little tiny signs on the trees to indicate you were still on the trail. Eventually, I saw one ahead and started breathing easier again.

As I neared the end of the hike I was so lucky to run into another hiker, Ginger Grey (or Gray?) I could tell she was experienced right away by the look of her pack. After we exchanged hellos, I asked her if she had hiked here before. She told me that she comes here often to train for her longer hikes. She was actually training today for a future hike in South America! I told her that she was my inspiration and I shared with her my inexperience and my hiking goal for the year. She was very encouraging.  She shared with me some amazing stories about a hike she did in Central America - truly inspirational!!!! That is way down the road for me, but I'm happy to report that I am 3 hikes down and 57 to go and it's only January 8th!!!!