Overdoing It

So it turns out that two hours of hiking before getting to work in the morning is probably too much. I was somewhat disappointed—I had hoped I could do more. I hiked up about half of the Exploration Trail, a delightful four-mile path that winds up from the highway in Arrowbear to the Strawberry Peak fire lookout tower. It's a beautiful trail and I'd hiked it last year before the Sierra trek with a full pack. It wiped me out, but I had imagined I'd gotten more hale in the meantime. I had planned to hike it all this morning, but halfway up I decided that four hours might be too much time to spend. Even with only an hour up and an hour back, I was tired and I didn't succeed in getting much of anything done on the writing.

I'd still like to get in the exercise, though. (One of the revelations I had during the hike—and one which I've had on most of the hikes I've been on—is that the best way I could reduce the weight I'm carrying on my journeys is to reduce my weight.) I really enjoyed being out today, and having such an amazing resource right in my backyard is too much to pass up. And, I figure, if I keep hiking more regularly I'll actually build up the stamina I keep imagining I have. Next week, I'm going to try and spend an hour out there: half an hour up the trail (it's pretty much all uphill from the highway), half an hour down. Hopefully that'll leave me enough stamina to write. Otherwise, I'll have to give the forest up for a while (and yes, I have considered writing first and then hiking, but it's getting far too hot in the afternoons now for that).

Well, I'm sure that was a fascinating read for most of you. I think I've pointed out that this is the kind of stuff you get when I blog every day. Lord willing, the writing will move more powerfully tomorrow and I'll have something to report on that front.