I love hiking despite the fact that I have things “to work on” while I’m in the woods. Some of these things are fairly irrational, such as my fear of falling. I am also overly cautious and am not in the shape I want to be. Yet I still go out there and hike - sometimes I go as much as three times a week.

I’m sure you recall my picture “River of Flowers” so you KNOW I love hiking here. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have found such a gem. But… When we first moved here, I realized that this is not the hiking of my home state. In New Hampshire, hiking either took place in freezing cold weather (not a joke, I hiked on the coldest day of the year one day) or is characterized by scrambling over roots and rocks.

Fear of Mountain Lions

Hiking in Washington is also great. I’ve logged many hours of solitary hiking hiking through the trails at Mount Rainier. Hey, I needed to do something while my husband was mountaineering up that crazy thing. I believe I was signed up for that trip but didn’t get the hang of “self arrest” (a technique that stops you from careening down the mountain until you hit something hard). But that’s probably my favorite National Park.

On one of our trips to Washington, we went to the Cascades to do some hiking. We went off trail because we were trying to find the place where my husband went off trail and got stuck on a cliff with snow shoes on. I almost had to radio for help to organize a helicopter rescue. Yes, he got down.

Glutton for Punishment

We took walk down memory lane the next summer which was also memorable. We wanted to find the cliff so that I could see it. Instead, we had a new adventure.  I slid down a rock shute, ripped my pants (I had to throw them out!), spotted a mountain lion staring down at us, and then jumped in the river. And I can’t swim.

We both knew the lion was watching us all day but neither of us wanted to say anything. The one thing that saved us? Who knows. Mostly, I think it was well fed and we were too confusing. I had many loud girly moments that day.

Kindness of Strangers

I learned that day that outdoors-folk look out for each other. When we started out that day, we chatted with a couple who were finished the hike and going to their camp site. As the day wound down, they didn’t see us. Yes, they actually looked. We ran out of the woods that night.

My pants were ripped and we were both soaked and filled with dirt. We were miles from town and we hadn’t secured our lodging for the night. As we launched ourselves out of the woods, they were in the jeep looking for us. Wow. We got a ride into town and found a hotel thanks to them.

Goin’ to California

So naturally, one of the first things we did when we moved to California was to find the hiking. For the first month or so I refused to walk in the woods in the dark. Okay, we did once but I was in a state and it wasn’t enjoyable. I mean, come on, there are signs posted all over the neighborhood because some big cats were spotted roaming around. You’ll be happy to know that my fear is dwindling, especially in the woods that I am familiar with. I guess trekking through the woods and not even seeing one will do that. So, we can check that off the list.

Okay, but now I have Poison Oak

One thing I am not used to is poison oak and poison sumac. I could walk right through a patch of poison ivy. But I currently have poison oak and/or sumac all over my arm, on my neck, between my fingers, on my eye brow. I got used to the mountain lions. Yes. But this itch is incessant. I insisted on being the leader on our hike two weekends ago in the Santa Ynez area. That means that I led us right into a patch of it and I had no idea I was this sensitive to it.

So why do I do it?

You may be wondering why I hike. After all this, why do I do it? Well, even though I have scrapes, scars, and encounters with wild beasts (ok, it was nothing more than the head lamp catching its eyes, but still) I love it. I absolutely love  it. I enjoy looking for edible and medicinal plants. I love the views. I enjoy the physical activity and yes, I even enjoy the mishaps. In fact, those follies make for delightful campfire tale. I just wish this jewelweed ointment will work on my itchy rash quicker!

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