Take a Hike

In order to keep busy while the boys are in daycare this week, I decided I would try to venture out and explore where I live. I dropped the boys off at Ms. Chris’ house and told her that I was going to hike the hill next to our house again and maybe go for a long walk. To this, she explained, “Girl, you don’t even know where you are.” She could see the confusion on my face and decided to write down a few things for me. She told me about several parks that I needed to visit and a few trails to explore. She told me in a challenging way to not do the same things I had already done, but to try different things. She was right. Too often in my life I keep with what I know. I decided I was going to be adventurous! I went home and looked up hiking trails near me. There was one that didn’t seem too far off. I went to grab the address from the website. To my surprise there wasn’t really an address for this park. The address listed was “the end of Laughlin rd”. I thought I’d give it a try. As I drove I saw many gorgeous sites. I saw beautiful hills and beautiful neighborhoods. I took my left onto Laughlin Road and continued on through the outskirts of several cute neighborhoods. Then neighborhoods started to become more scarce. Soon, there were no houses in site, but there were horses and cattle. I kept driving. By this point my curiosity was taking over. The road started to narrow and signs reading “Rough Road Ahead” were becoming more and more frequent. I soon understood “Rough Road Ahead”. The road narrowed to the width of one care and the surface of the road became more like a trail that an actual road. I was thankful as I drove that another car was not coming from the opposite direction. This would have caused me anxiety, as I would have needed to pull off the edge of the road to allow the other car to pass. When I say pull of the edge of the road I was not on a cliff. It was more like an elevated road that’s edges ended abruptly. There was no guardrail and your car would have certainly rolled at least twice had you fallen off. I began to start worrying about the lack of human life around. Then, I started to notice that many of the horses were blindfolded in the fields. What were they not suppose to see? Am I walking into the makings of a horror film? If I keep driving down this dirt road am I therefore the girl who is running up the stairs being chased? Soon I started to see several parked cars together and a building that looked much like a house. As I pulled in, I saw the park’s sign and knew I was in the correct place. I pulled the car into a parking spot and started to gather my things when I realized, I still do not see anyone. I searched with my eyes over all the massive hills that surrounded me for a sign of human life. Nothing. I looked at the recreation house thinking I’d go in and talk to a park ranger and ask question. No one. I got out of the car and walked to the trail maps that were posted. There were so many and they were very long. I looked around at each trail. The trails were nothing more than a path that was wide enough for one person to walk along and even then, the trails looked like only a few people had ever walk along them. They were not as clearly stomped out as I was used to seeing. I take another look at the parking lot. It was then that I realized I was a bit out of my league. Out of the six cars that were parked on the gravel parking lot four of them were Subarus. The other two looked like cars a bun wearing, bearded, hippy man would drive. I took a deep breath. I can do this! As I walked to the trail that I had decided upon I noticed another board. This board read, “Warning: Be aware of mountain lions and rattle snakes! They will not attack until they feel threatened.” *insert wide eyed emoji* Seriously? It went on to explain the difference between the snakes you would see and the sounds a rattlesnake will make when it is feeling threatened. This is the point where I start thinking about what to do if I encounter either of these creatures. There is not a soul in sight that would see this go down nor do I believe there is a soul within earshot that would hear my scream. I decided to go hike somewhere else. I drove another 30 minutes in the opposite direction and found a massive hill at another park. There were people! I walked up to the two I saw and asked about the trails. They pointed me in the direction of a certain trail that fit my description of safety and difficulty. It was a beautiful hike. Not a snake in sight nor the growl of non-domesticated animal. I hiked four miles and felt amazing. Today, I am going to be trying another park and hopefully will have the same experience. I will be looking at the types of cars parked in the paved parking lot and the amount of human life I see around to decide if I will be getting out of the car, or looking for a new park.