Trails

I thought about the many miles of trails Laurence and I have hiked together while we walked on a wooded path in Forest Park last evening. Laurence’s family has a saying about Dad hiking “Clifty at fifty.” We hiked at fifty and have kept on hiking though we’re past sixty. However, we’re more cautious. (I have a rod in one leg and don’t want one in the other.) We go slower, rest more, use hiking poles, and avoid the most difficult trails.

Laurence and I spent Sunday night in Overlook Lodge at Bear Mountain. Monday, we hiked to the top. The path is part of the Appalachian Trail, and we met a couple thru hikers. They had walked 1,400 miles from the starting point in Georgia. One man told us he began walking the trail on March 9.

An Asian man who stopped to let us by said, “I really admire you.” That encouraged me, and so I tried to pass it on by telling some young ladies who looked winded as we passed them, “If I can make it, you can.”

I got stuck writing about Bear Mountain, but other favorite trails stick in my mind: Lonesome Lake in the White Mountains, Coot Hill in the Appalachians, and recently Rainbow Gulch in Woodland Park, CO.

Trails keep us sane for the craziness of city life. (Like the kaboom we heard one morning this week. A hospital employee Laurence recognized ran the stop sign outside our place. She hit a van. It flipped. The two little boys inside were sitting on the curb when I got out there. No one was hurt.) From Queens to the Pacific Crest Trail 😅, Laurence and I want to keep walking together.

What trails do you enjoy? Only one really matters! Berniece