rivka

Last weekend, I decided that I wanted to try going for a hike. I'd been really impressed with what I'd been able to manage the week before, and I thought another hike of about 1 or 1.5 miles would be fun and good exercise. Savage Park, a few miles from our apartment, promised on their website that they had several short hiking trails. It seemed perfect.

The park office was closed, but a parks and recreation employee wandering around gladly opened it up to get me a little map of the trails. He also warned me to watch out for snakes. Blacksnakes, mostly, but apparently there are also copperheads, especially in areas where storms have knocked down a lot of trees. Slightly trepidatious, I set out for what looked like it ought to be two trails that connected to make a 1.7 mile loop.

First discovery: Savage Park may name its trails, but it doesn't label them. I found a paved path leading into the woods in about the right place, and at first it seemed to roughly follow the route of one of the labelled trails. But after about fifteen minutes I found myself in the back field of a school, and then the paved path ended abruptly at an ordinary street. I consulted my little park map. Hm, looks like the other trail I intended to take runs along the edge of the road for a while. I decided to walk along the road looking for another route into the park.

Second discovery: there aren't necessarily clear dividing lines between park property and private property. I walked up a promising-looking dirt road, only to meet a sign that said "WARNING: Dangerous Guard Dog On Duty." I turned around quickly and went back to combing the roadside for trail signs. And indeed, I found a narrow trail into the park, this time not paved. Maybe this was the trail? It was pretty narrow. And frequently crossed by thorny vines. And boggy. And there were some fallen trees to climb over. Finally, despite occasional blue-plastic-flagged trees (which is why I persisted in thinking it must be a trail), I had to concede that the trail had faded away into nothing. I started picking my way back down, and suddenly found myself confronted by the angry Dangerous Guard Dog On Duty, with just ten feet of shallow stream between us. Fortunately, he seemed to recognize that the stream was the edge of his property... but he barked at me until I was out of sight, and my heart rate didn't get back to normal for several minutes after that.

I went back to my original paved path behind the school, and started working my way back to where I'd left my car. Hope springing eternal, I tried to follow a few clear trails leading off from the paved path. Inevitably, they disappeared. From time to time, I noticed other trail markers: faded paint blazes on trees, abbreviated pastic strips tied to branches. They seemed to mark nothing and lead nowhere. Each time, I clambered over fallen trees and froze at every potentially snake-related rustling noise, only to find that I was forced back to the paved path.

It was, in many ways, a frustrating day. I now have parallel neon-pink scratches across my right thigh, from thorns, and a couple of mild scrapes down my right calf. I still have no idea where I was or where the named trails might have been. I don't even know how far I went. I did walk steadily for an hour and a quarter, stopping only for unsuccessful attempts to make the map match the territory. But it was a lovely day for walking, and the woods were cool and beautiful. And - although I can't document the length of my path - if I walked for an hour and a quarter, that can't possibly be less than two miles. It was probably closer to three.

Considering where I've come from, physically, that's nothing short of amazing. I owe that to Savage Park. But next week I think I'll try one of the state parks instead.