Weather Holds

A bit late posting about last week, but it was another lovely one weather wise with temps perfect for getting in a hike. To be honest, I've been a little afraid to get out on a "real" trail even though I'm fairly recovered from the back surgery of last July. Still some issues with stamina, still some occasional issues with pain and the fear that I will find myself far from the trailhead having run out of steam or hurting. But it has been 2 years since my last hike, and that September blog post ended saying there was one more trail at Pine Street Woods where I had been hiking to check out, but I never made it back. It's where I decided to head last week. I wasn't sure about the length of the trail but remembered that it was relatively short, dropping down from the parking lot into the trees. Soon I came to this marker giving me a choice: dive down the steep trail to the right, or continue down a more gentle slope to the left. I wasn't sure if this was a loop trail or two trails and opted for the easier looking path to the left.

There was a sign posted at the entry to the woods warning of high fire danger. We haven't had much rain over the summer and are in a bit of a drought as so much of the country is. So I was surprised to come upon a stand of cedars with soft branches of needles rather than brittle and dry ones. And also young cedars of a bright green like you'd expect in spring. So fresh and beautiful!

 

Just beyond the cedars, the trail switchbacked onto a flatter section, easy walking, still shaded by trees.

And then it headed up. This is looking back down where I'd just hiked up, at a switchback, and it's hard to tell from the photo how steep this section was.

There were short flatter sections as I headed up the hill, sure now that I was on a loop and would end up back at the trail marker. This was the steepest part.

And I was right about where I would end up. But I'd only been on the trail for about 20 minutes which included pauses for pictures and looking around. Not feeling any pain anywhere and not ready to leave, I decided to take the trail in the opposite direction, only stopping to note the lush moss on the big rock (which again was a surprise because of the dry hot weather we'd had) and take the obligatory foot and walking stick photo to prove I was there. From the switchback, it was a long incline back to the trailhead, requiring a few pauses to catch my breath, but still only took about ten minutes to do the loop the reverse direction. I was thinking then that this was maybe only a half mile loop but I later found it on a map showing it to be .8 miles. A part of me could have done more, I even considered driving on up to the main lot of numerous trailheads but decided not to push my luck. It was a good test run of my post-op body.

I also stopped along a daily walk last week to sketch a row of new houses, but boy did it go off the rails. I started with the middle one of the three I planned to sketch, only to have it soon overtake the entire page. I also didn't take time to check the roof angles which I drew in first and after I sketched in the rest of the house, I could see how off they were. I had planned a second outing to add some color but the sketch is so confusing in its perspective, I may just let it go and either work on a new version straight on rather than at an angle or go back to my original idea of  working in the three houses on one page. I don't often interact with people when I'm urban sketching but this time, as I sat on my 3-legged stool hunched over my sketchbook, a car came around the corner and the driver slowed enough to ask if I was alright. What a puzzle! but after some thought it occurred to me that from the back I might have looked in distress. Guess I need to sit up straighter as I sketch!