An unintended hike

Over Labor Day weekend, after all the tennis was over and the cobbler had yet to be eaten, we decided to go for a family walk at one of my favorite trails - Two Rivers Park. During my half marathon training, I did most of my runs in the park, and I have missed it over the summer. The paved trail has loops of various lengths that make it perfect for running, bike riding, and taking a not-too-long family stroll. On Sunday, we set out to take one of the latter, with Malcolm riding his bike.

Before the hike, all smiles and no bug bites

Shortly after crossing the bridge onto the trail proper, we took a diversion down a dirt trail to see the river. Then, in a spirit of adventure we later rued, we decided to follow a dirt trail off into the woods, parallel to the paved trail. At first, it wasn't bad at all. Malcolm could ride his bike, the trail seemed clear and well-maintained, and it was fun to be in the woods.

The trail is straight through there - see it?

Then we hit the first of the downed trees. Malcolm climbed over, Benjamin carried the bike. Malcolm started riding again - he was having a fabulous time. Then we hit more downed trees, covered with vines, and I scared a couple of large black snakes (I don't know what they were, but I fervently hoped at the time that they were just king snakes or rat snakes, and not water moccasins). The mosquitoes, ticks, and fire ants made their presences known.

At least we can see the trail again!

And the trail just kept going. I thought I knew where it came out, and it seemed that we had been walking for a very long time - longer than I thought possible on that narrow spit of land. We weren't lost, not really - we always had the trail and could have turned around if the trail ended completely - but we had no idea how much longer we were going to be there, and we had a potluck to get to! Eventually, the trail widened out into a clear track, there were no more fallen trees, and we found a picnic table. This, we figured, had to mean we were close to the paved trail at last. We stopped to pick the burrs off our socks, then set off, renewed. Only to discover that we were on the horseback riding trail that crosses the park, and it wound around for quite a while. Well, OK, it wasn't that long, but we were all getting tired and hot and thirsty and I figured we had walked at least three miles by that point (we had water, but it was only supposed to be a mile hike).

Finally, we came to the spot where I thought we had to emerge - I was right, just a little off on the distance - and made it back to the paved path, and eventually back to the car. Malcolm was getting tired, but he never complained. The entire time we were bushwhacking, he kept saying "Nothing can stop the Riders!" and charging ahead. I was amazed at how well he handled the whole adventure - I certainly wouldn't have been that good about such a thing, considering how much I whined about walking on the boardwalk path when hiking!

It is too bad that the city has not kept that trail cleared, because it could be a very nice hiking/biking trail if they did. Just take some bug spray!

Easter weekend - egg hunting and hiking a mountain

This past weekend we crammed a lot of activity into one Saturday. Malcolm got to go on an egg hunt at our church. He had been anticipating it for weeks, and it did not disappoint.

There were dozens and dozens of candy-filled plastic eggs scattered around, just waiting for some hot little hands to grab them up. Malcolm got his fair share, and then some. He will probably still be eating them in May. He also got to meet the Easter Bunny. That hug is a big improvement over this time last year, when he saw a person in a kangaroo outfit somewhere, and edged away with a panic-stricken whimper.

In addition to being Easter weekend, it was also the last of spring break. Since I was out of town the first weekend, and Benjamin had been busy all week trying to catch up/get ahead with work, we hadn't had much chance to do something really fun. Saturday was a glorious spring day, with blue skies, warm sun (but not too hot, yet), and gentle breezes. We had to head outside.

Pinnacle Mountain, from the parking lot

So naturally, we decided to climb Pinnacle Mountain. It is a large and steep hill just outside of Little Rock, on the edge of the river. Now, I know some of you are from places with real mountains, and would scoff at calling this hill a mountain, but hey, this is Arkansas. We don't have volcanoes or young mountains - ours are all old and short. Pinnacle is one of those places that attracts both serious hikers (one time we were there, an older man in spandex was climbing it, repeatedly - he passed us three times while we were there) and casual "Hey it's nice out, lets do something outside" hikers, the ones who show up in flip flops with one tiny bottle of water between them. And since Saturday was such a nice day, it seemed like all of Little Rock was there to enjoy it.

Lately, Malcolm has been asking to go hiking, which has meant tromping through the woody areas of our hill - he and Benjamin found a deer antler on one such adventure walk. He is really getting into it, which is great, since we love hiking too. We figured that his enthusiasm meant he might be big enough to tackle a real hike. And he was.

The top

He hiked the entire way to the top of the mountain, almost a mile of just climbing, only stopping a couple of times for water. In fact, he did better than a number of the adults we passed, never complaining about the rocks or the climb at all.

He did get a ride most of the way down the hill, passed between Benjamin and myself, but by that point, he'd earned it. And I know there were some other hikers who probably wished for a ride down!

Black Friday Hiking Report

Longtime readers of my blog (hi Mom and Dad) know that Benjamin and I go on a hike on the day after Thanksgiving; it is our way of refraining from over-consumption, avoiding getting trampled, and recovering from any Thanksgiving excess. Since Malcolm arrived, we haven't taken any long or strenuous hikes, but we have made an effort to at least go somewhere we don't normally go for a walk. This year, we headed up to Russellville (about an hour's drive) to try out the Bona Dea Trails.

It is a trail system that combines a fitness trail, jogging trail and some hiking (sort of), in the city limits of Russellville. The entire loop (about 3.5 miles) is paved and in good condition, so it is wheelchair and bicycle accessible. That means isn't a particularly difficult hike, but it was a good fit for us at this time, with our toddler, stroller, grandmother and two dogs.

It was chilly, but sunny - good weather for a long walk. Malcolm walked at least a mile and a half of the trail by himself. As long as he is in the mood, he is a very good walker/hiker. We all had fun on the fitness parts of the trail, trying out the various exercise stations.

The scenery wasn't spectacular, but it was peaceful, and it is supposed to have good wildlife viewing opportunities if you visit near sunrise and sunset.

Although I doubt we will make the trip up to Russellville just to use the trails again soon, it is definitely somewhere I would go to run or ride my bike if I lived in the area. It might be worth a return visit when Malcolm is a bit older and can ride his bike around the entire trail.

Thanksgiving recap

Malcolm wasn't thrilled with the overalls, but they are just so darn cute!

Here are some pictures from our busy Thanksgiving weekend. On Thanksgiving we headed to a friend's house for authentic homemade Louisiana gumbo and other deliciousness. No, no turkey this year. I think in the 11 years we've been married, Benjamin and I have had turkey 4 times for Thanksgiving, and two of those were when my parents came to visit and my mother did the cooking. Usually, if it is just going to be us, we make enchiladas.  This year, I was happy to not have to do any of the cooking, since I would have had to do it around Malcolm. I did bake a pumpkin pie, using store-bought pumpkin for the first time in probably 13 years, and it was a complete failure. The pumpkin puree tasted like the container it came in - musty cardboard - and was pretty much inedible. Major bummer! And it was a reputable organic brand too. I guess that will teach me not to cut so many corners again! Anyway, on Saturday we roasted a chicken and I made an apple pie to make up for the lack of pie leftovers.

Benjamin and his helper elf.

Since it is fall here in Arkansas, we took some time to rake leaves. We got 10 or 12 giant bags, and didn't even finish the backyard, not to mention the front. There are still plenty for my dad to rake in a few weeks when my parents arrive for Christmas.

And we took Malcolm on his first of what we hope will be many post-Thanksgiving hikes. We figured he wouldn't have the stamina (or patience) for a long hike, so we chose Woolly Hollow State Park. The hike there is only about 3 miles, and the drive is about an hour from Maumelle. We've done it before and have enjoyed it. This time, the weather was almost perfect, just a little windy and cold up on the exposed ridge side.

If you look closely at this picture, you will see the death grip Malcolm had on my finger. He sucked on that finger for much of the hike, so much so that I had drool running down my palm and dripping as I hiked. Ah, babies!

 

 I did convince him to suck his own fingers at some point.

In the end, we didn't make it the entire 3 miles - he was getting too hungry and tired - but he did pretty darn well. He definitely enjoyed facing forward in his new carrier that I got from our neighbors - so much easier to see out that way.  I just bought a backpack style carrier that we will be using once he is able to sit up on his own. Then he will be able to play with our hair while we hike!

Hiking at Pigeon Roost, now with pictures

After all the complaining about the problems with our hiking trip this past weekend, it is only fair that I show you the good stuff. The weather was pretty good - a little warmer and more humid than is ideal (for me anyway), but not truly unpleasant. Most of the trees have not yet regained their leaves, so we had good views of the hills, and eventually the lake.

The wildflowers were delightful - violets, and little white flowers that sort of looked like a type of allium (picture of those didn't come out), and these little rock rose-types.

I'm still experimenting with the various settings on my DSLR, and trying to take pictures while holding a dog leash is not idea (yes, I did have Benjamin hold it some of the time, but not always), so the pictures didn't come out as well as I had hoped. I ended up having to adjust the balance and colors on the computer, which I would prefer not to do - I want my picture to be untouched-up. Not that it is a crime to "fix" a picture - the primary reason Ansel Adams' pictures are so very good is his darkroom technique - but I don't really like doing it because of operator error. Oh well, gives me a good reason to go hiking again next spring.

Here are a couple of pictures for those of you who want to have pictures of my pregnant belly. Since I refuse to post posed belly pictures until I am truly "great with child" (and am even more adamant about never referring to it as a bump) they are all you are going to get for a while. Not a whole lot to see yet.

Hmm. This one is sort of awkward - where is my other leg? And pictures of people eating, not generally graceful. Oh well. You can see our cooking set-up on the grill of the brand-new fire pit (and a very nice fire pit it was), and the too-short tent pad in the background.

Miikka in a quiet, and relatively undirty moment. Because the boy scouts had taken out the old, rusted fire pits (we saw them farther down the trail, waiting to be taken out by boat), they had also scattered all the old ashes around the area. Miikka had a good time hunting for food scraps and lolling in the ashes; since we also slept with him, the tent got rather gritty as well. The first thing I did when we got home was give him a bath.

And our morning view of our corner of a very large, winding lake. If the trees had been in full leaf, we would hardly have been able to see any glimmer of water. I didn't take any pictures on the hike out, since I packed the camera in my backpack. The wildflowers were still very pretty though.

Well, that was less than a full success

This weekend was the start of spring break at the university where Benjamin teaches, so we decided to take advantage of his relative freedom and go backpacking. We also wanted to get in at least one overnight trip to the woods this year before I get too big to enjoy sleeping on the ground and tromping through the woods with a large pack on my back. Since it was sort of a last minute trip, and because I had been wanting to give it a try, we took Miikka with us. Now, he is a very good hiker, especially for a dog with such short legs, but, and this is now a huge but, he is a terrible camper.

For starters, the day was quite warm - not for Arkansas in general, compared to the actual heat of summer, but for March, 80 with lots of humidity is still a bit much - and he doesn't really like the heat. I guess that is understandable, what with his fur coat and short legs that put him close to the ground, but it is sort of a pain when it comes to going for walks or the occasional hike. And the path was primarily composed of chunks of crushed granite or other rocks, so I am sure it was not comfortable for his paws. All understandable reasons why he wasn't at his best on the 4 miles in to the campsite. I wasn't at my best either. So, while the hike wasn't his finest hour, the problem that disqualifies him from all future camping trips was yet to reveal itself.

No, that came after dark, once we were all in the tent, preparing to get some much-needed sleep. When he started growling and wuffing at every crackle in the bushes, and every owl hoot. For hours. We would just manage to drift off, and he would hear something else and wuff. It wasn't full-fledged barking, except once (when I went out to find a tree and left him behind), but at close range, in a tent, while trying to sleep on hard ground... As Benjamin put it, the thing about sleeping on the ground is that you have to fall asleep fast enough that you don't really notice how uncomfortable you are. With Miikka grring and wuffing, that was impossible. Also, I am not supposed to sleep on my back, so I had to keep alternating from side to side to keep my arms and hips from falling asleep or getting too sore, but my sleeping bag is a mummy sack that doesn't do well with lots of wiggling - it gets all twisted. It didn't help that I was also trying to cuddle Miikka into submission, so he was on my bag or my arm for quite a while. In hindsight, I should have realized that his tendency to bark at random noises in the dark of our backyard would carry over to the woods. But in my defense, I honestly thought that he would settle down once we got into our sleeping bags and petted him for a bit. I thought he would enjoy being allowed to sleep with us, something he never does at home. I was wrong.

We eventually got a few hours uninterrupted sleep, but it took a long time to get there, and it didn't last nearly long enough.

So, Taking Miikka Camping can go down in the annals as one of those supposedly fun things I will never do again.

More from Spy Rock

Most of the trees on the hike were bare (apart from the pines, of course), but there were still many interesting things to see. Like this cairn that some past hiker constructed out of the local rock.

And these fungi that covered a dead tree on the side of the trail.

From a quick internet search for "tree fungi" I found an index to tree fungi, which gave me a name -turkey tail fungus - and led me to this interesting website. I absolutely love the internet and the speedy finding of information! Sure, I could have found this information in a book, eventually, assuming that my library had a book of fungi.
 

There was also this lovely spiral of lichen on a rock.

And moss that seemed to glow when the light hit it just right. 

These pictures don't really do the glow justice, but hopefully you can get the idea. It is the small views like these that motivate me to get out into the woods, just as much as the vista from the top of the mountain.

Post-Thanksgiving Hike: Spy Rock, 8.8 Miles

Wearing orange so hunters don't shoot us.

 On Friday, we took our now annual post-Thanksgiving hike. We started doing this as a tradition back in Texas, as a way to avoid shopping or sitting at home doing homework. This year, we chose an 8.8 mile loop hike in the Ozark National Forest that took us through a (planted) pine grove, up the side of a ridge, and eventually to the top of the tallest hill/mountain in the area.

Because most of the leaves were off the oaks, we had some great views out over the surrounding countryside as we climbed. Although it was primarily an uphill sort of hike on the way out, it wasn't really that bad, and I speak as someone who really hates hiking uphill.

There were some great natural features, like this big boulder and moss and lichen (which I am saving for another day). 

And peeking through the trees is a view of Spy Rock - the midpoint/destination of the hike.

Hmm. I was calling this Spy Mountain when I was telling people about it, but clearly, I was incorrect. The sign from the trail proves it.

This was the view at the top. What you can't feel is the wind. Hold on to your hats!

It was a good day for a hike - not too cold, but not too hot. And it was only really windy at the exposed top of Spy Rock.

Miikka had a grand time on the hike. Yes, he made it all 8.8 miles without any trouble. And even better, he was allowed to go almost the entire way off-leash. The dog who, in the neighborhood, can't even be let out in the front yard off-leash, went at least 8 miles without wandering away or running off into the woods. He just stayed on the trail, between Benjamin and I, the whole way. Once, at a Y in the trail, he did want to go down the opposite fork, but was eventually convinced to come with us instead. And even then, he didn't just cut through the grass to reach us - he trotted back to the Y, staying on the trail. He was on the leash at the top of the mountain, while we ate lunch, because I don't particularly trust him not to go over the edge, and a couple of times when we got close to logging roads where we heard the occasional 4-wheeler (the only other people we saw the entire hike). Otherwise, totally free. What a good hiker!

Shoulda played hooky

The weather this month (all four days so far) has been gorgeous - perfect temperatures, light breezes, sunshine. On Saturday, I spent most of the day outside - first through 4 hours of tennis, and then at a picnic/potluck in the afternoon. Sunday, I was inside more, but I still managed to get in some time in the yard. What I haven't managed to do is go for a hike. This is almost the perfect time of year to head out to the woods in Arkansas. The various and many fall hunting seasons have started, but aren't yet in full swing, so there is less danger of being mistaken for a deer as you hike than there is in November; the weather is not too hot or too cold or too wet. The trees are starting to turn, so there are pretty things to look at.

Alas, we probably won't be hitting the woods until the end of the month, thanks to a tennis tournament and various travel commitments. I was so very tempted to kidnap Benjamin and head out to the woods today. Would have been a lot nicer than the test grading he has to do and the sitting at a desk staring at a computer that I have to do. I wish I wasn't so responsible!

Labor Day at Bell Slough

We considered going for a proper hike on Monday, since the weather was so nice, but decided that we had too much to get done at home to allow us to take so long on an excursion. Instead, we headed up to the Bell Slough - a wildlife management area between Maumelle and Conway.

It's purpose is to provide a resting area for waterfowl and other birds as they migrate. (Although hunting is allow in the area, so I am not sure how restful it really is). It also has a nice trail that loops around for approximately 3 miles through oak trees and other typical Arkansas forest terrain.

Miikka loves hiking here - there is always so much to smell. He was practically quivering with excitement when we got out of the car and headed for the trail at a run, towing me along behind.  When we hike, we have an established order - Benjamin first, followed by Miikka, with me bringing up the rear. Sometimes Miikka tries to take the lead, but he is so often distracted or side-tracked by an interesting smell, and he stops so suddenly that he causes pile-ups. If Benjamin takes the leash, Miikka is worried that I am not right behind him. So: Benjamin, Miikka, Hope.

There were some wildflowers blooming along the path, although it hasn't rained for a few weeks. 

The best part of Bell Slough is that even though it is right next to the freeway, and is in easy driving distance of Conway and Little Rock, there are almost never too many people (and by too many, I mean anyone other than us). It is easy to slip into nature for a little while, breathe in the clean air, and relax. This trip, we saw two other people, but only from a distance. Perfect.

Hawaii, Part 3

One of the days in Hawaii, we drove out to the westernmost tip of Oahu, to Kaena Point. It just goes to show how different the various areas of the island are; Honolulu and the Manoa Valley are pretty lush, while this side was much more scrubby and dry.

 The point is a sort of wildlife reserve, specifically for birds and Monk Seals. Because the birds that nest in the area did not evolve with predators and nest on the ground, they are vulnerable to introduced pests, such as mongoose, so this fence was built across the point to keep them out.

To get to the point, you go through this air-lock like contraption. Pretty cool actually.

There are tide pools and some vegetation on the point, and presumably, at the right time of year, birds. We didn't see anything nesting, since it was the middle of August.

We did, however, see some Monk Seals. They were sunning themselves on the rocks, and weren't particularly active.  It was the middle of the day, after all.

After we hiked back to the beach from the point, we took a cue from the seals and sunned ourselves and floated in the water. I didn't like everything about Hawaii, but I did enjoy having the ocean so near, and I could easily get used to floating in the ocean every day.