Look Out for Karma!

This weekend Cheryl, Lorrie and I headed out to Caldwell Park on the west side of Cincinnati. The weather early in the morning was very cold with rain mixed with snow.  The forecast was not good for the rest of the day and for the first time this year I was tempted to cancel and tell my fellow hikers that we would take the weekend off. But, just as the forecast was worse than expected last weekend, this weekend it was better than expected. When we got in the car to hit the road, the sun came out. I was grateful that we just decided to bundle up and go with it because we enjoyed the hike at a sunny 37 degrees and knocked out another hike!

We pulled into the parking lot (brace yourself - without getting lost) and got on our gear. Lorrie noticed that she forgot one of her gloves.  This was not a good day to go glove-less! She did some quick thinking and had an extra sock that she put on one hand.  She later shared that she would put on a sock puppet show for us if we got bored along the way.  Fortunately, that didn't happen as we enjoyed the sites of this park set in the middle of this urban area. We heard the sounds of trains and traffic throughout a good portion of the hike.  Despite some sites and sounds of civilization there were many nice woodland landscapes.  We hiked for 2.4 miles and it took about one hour and 15 minutes to complete.

I would consider this hike one of the easier ones that we have done, except for the extremely muddy conditions. Because the trail was mud covered with wet leaves, we were really watching every step!  As we hiked along, I commented how I didn't like being in the front of the pack as we were traveling downhill.  I was afraid if Cheryl or Lorrie fell that they were going to take me out too and that we would all go down like dominoes.  About 2 minutes later, before I knew what was happening . . . down I went on my butt! It was pretty funny and I told the girls that it was Karma calling since I had just been dogging them about not falling on me! Oh well, it kind of felt good to finally get the first fall out of the way. One advantage of the mud was seeing signs of wildlife.  At least one smart little deer used the cleared trail to travel, because we could see its hoof prints here and there along the way.

As we finished the series of loops and headed back toward the parking lot, we commented on how lucky we were with the weather. If anyone would have told me a month ago that I would enjoy a hike at 37 degrees, I would have said, "No way!"  When I was a classroom teacher, my least favorite thing to do was outdoor recess duty in the winter time! As our first month of hiking comes to a close, I am amazed how quickly I have learned to enjoy the outdoors this time of year.  I know how many layers to wear and which coat to put on for various temperatures.  This is one part of hiking that I no longer feel inexperienced.  January was good to me!

7 hikes down and 53 hikes to go!!!!!