My aunt said “You do love your hikes don’t you!!!
It occurred to me that yes, I did. But I didn’t actually have any words for why. I said that I did because I liked the quiet.
Hiking today with the dog, I thought about it.
I didn’t come up with much.
The quiet was nice.
The air smelled cleaner.
My feet felt right. Like they knew they belonged there. They wanted to be stepping over roots, shuffling last year’s dead leaves and tripping over rocks.
We gave Jones Park another try. It was much more navigable without all the ice but without any service I still didn’t know where I was so we turned back earlier than planned.
We used the extra time to check out Aqua Terra park nearby. It was muddy. I wandered off the trail trying to find a way around some mud and got lost, luckily Chief found our way back. We did a loop and a half around the pond and rinsed off our muddy feet along the dam next to a rusty Genesee beer can before heading back to the car.
