It's been a couple of weeks since I've gotten a good hike in...I guess I figured that life actually holds responsibilities every once in a while, and as a grown woman, I should probably take care of a couple of things every now and then. That being said, I refuse to waste my youth doing laundry. Wednesday, however, I made the commitment to find and hike Templeton Trail, so I set my alarm for 6 am and made sure I had a matching set of clean socks (a big deal when you only have 2 pair and you only do laundry roughly once a month). But then, right around 8 pm, Sam called wanting me to join him and a friend for sushi after their game of disc golf. Not one to ever turn down sushi, and having had only a peanut butter and jelly sandwich pretty much all day long, I promptly got dressed and headed out. We got home just after 10 and I was all riled up from the evening, so I settled in and watched TV for a couple of hours. Now, most people wouldn't have a problem functioning after 6 hours of sleep, but I'm not most people, and I need at least 8 hours to perform any kind of task the next day. Needless to say, I did not wake up at 6 am yesterday morning.
At 7:30, I was out the door, but soon realized that I needed to stop for gas before I headed to the Village. I grabbed some iced coffee (big mistake), filled my tank, and hit the road. I parked at the Courthouse Butte trail head and then actually thoroughly examined the map to see where the hell I was going (novel idea, isn't it?) Unfortunately, I discovered that I'm apparently still young enough to not know how to properly read a map, so off into the wrong direction I headed. I should mention that it really doesn't help that most of the trails aren't even labeled, so I'm not going to take all of the blame on that one. Hey, at least I stayed on an actual trail this time, just going the wrong way :)
About a mile in, I realized that I had to go to the bathroom (thanks to that delicious and refreshing iced coffee I'd indulged in earlier). Badly. Like, more severely than I've ever had to go to the bathroom before. I turned back the way I had come to hit up the "outhouse" in the Courthouse Butte parking lot. I literally ran the entire way...and I'm really not much of a runner. Do you know how hard it is to run full speed on a rocky trail with the full realization looming that you could very easily crap your pants in the middle of nowhere? It was one hell of a core workout, I'll say that much. Long story short, I made it, but I was in such a fluster that I actually sat down on the "seat". I'm not exactly sure how you contract the Ebola Virus, but I may very well have it now. Ga-ross. Upon my exit of the facilities, I decided to check back at the map, and there I realized that I had, indeed, been heading in the wrong direction. I corrected my route, and headed off toward Cathedral.
About a mile in, I realized that I had to go to the bathroom (thanks to that delicious and refreshing iced coffee I'd indulged in earlier). Badly. Like, more severely than I've ever had to go to the bathroom before. I turned back the way I had come to hit up the "outhouse" in the Courthouse Butte parking lot. I literally ran the entire way...and I'm really not much of a runner. Do you know how hard it is to run full speed on a rocky trail with the full realization looming that you could very easily crap your pants in the middle of nowhere? It was one hell of a core workout, I'll say that much. Long story short, I made it, but I was in such a fluster that I actually sat down on the "seat". I'm not exactly sure how you contract the Ebola Virus, but I may very well have it now. Ga-ross. Upon my exit of the facilities, I decided to check back at the map, and there I realized that I had, indeed, been heading in the wrong direction. I corrected my route, and headed off toward Cathedral.
The trail was relatively easy, though every mountain biker that I passed was heaving and whimpering and exhausted, so I guess maybe I'm underestimating my skill level :) One of my favorite things about this trail is that it crosses the highway via tunnels under each lane. I love tunnels. Plus, tunnels mean shade and I needed every inch of shade I could find yesterday. It's also nice to hike a little ways between the lanes of the scenic byway...I had seen the trail many times before, but now I finally got to see where it comes from and where it goes. About 2 hours in, it started to get hot. Ridiculously hot. I really would have thought that the difference between 109 degrees and 95 degrees would have seemed much more drastic, but it still basically feels like you are cooking in an oven. I'd only brought 2 bottles of water with me, so I made my way to the junction with the Cathedral Rock trail and decided to turn around and head back to the car.
After making my mandatory stop at Circle K for a massive fountain Coke Zero, I headed home and hit the pool and I've got to tell you, there is nothing better than diving into a swimming pool after a hike like that. It was perfect. Plus, school's back in session, so I had the whole place to myself! I also managed to sunburn to a crisp, and hopefully won't be peeling for our big trip next week. Oops.
I think I'll be going back to full-time at work beginning the second week in September, so that means I've only got one or two good Thursdays off left for the summer...I'm definitely going to make sure I suck every bit of adventure and relaxation I can out of them though. I can already tell that the days are getting shorter and the weather is starting to cool down a bit (mostly I notice first thing early in the morning, because it's still hot as blazes during the day). This year is going by so fast and before I know it, I'll be 30 and Sam will be applying for Fire Fighting jobs all over the State, so who knows where we'll be next summer! There is one thing I know though, and that's that time flies when you're having fun :)