rivka | (no subject)

I decided that I was feeling better yesterday, and so

wcg and I went hiking in Patapsco Valley State Park. The afternoon was cool and overcast, with a few drops of rain, which meant that the park was much less crowded than usual. For the most part we had the trails to ourselves.

I'd picked out a 2 1/4 mile loop that was marked "foot traffic only" for most of its length (no mountain bikers or horses). We started out walking through scrubby woods over level ground and then found ourselves on the top of a ridge, the ground dropping sharply away to our right, with lovely views into the valley below. Just as I started to ask "I wonder why this is pedestrians only," suddenly the trail dropped completely away in a steep jumble of rocks, and we had to pick our way down using our hands as well as our feet. Okay, I don't think a horse could've managed that. The return loop wound its way along and through a wide creek, with more scrambling over rocks in places.

Patapsco State Park does a lovely job of marking their trails: bright paint blazes spaced close enough together that you can always look up and see where you're going next. Given that the trails intersect with each other pretty often, it's important to be able to distinguish that this is the Buzzard's Rock trail (yellow blazes) and this is the Sawmill Branch trail (red blazes). The only thing that marred our afternoon was the discovery that some asshole had come out on the trails with a can of brown spray paint and covered up the blazes. Usually, at a point of doubt, you could see a sliver of red or yellow at the edge of the brown patch... but it sure as hell made it hard when the trail was faint and you were looking far ahead for blazes to mark your general direction. What kind of person thinks that's funny?

I was glad we went, because it really was a beautiful hike. But I found myself pretty much exhausted afterward, and today my quads are sore. Obviously it's been too long since I was out there.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The only thing that marred our afternoon was the discovery that some asshole had come out on the trails with a can of brown spray paint and covered up the blazes. Usually, at a point of doubt, you could see a sliver of red or yellow at the edge of the brown patch... but it sure as hell made it hard when the trail was faint and you were looking far ahead for blazes to mark your general direction. What kind of person thinks that's funny?

Well the New Zealand word for that kind of person is "wanker". Feel free to borrow.

I'm glad you and Bill had a good time out walking. Yay for good tracks!

Yay, hiking.

Is there any chance that the marking out was an act of official vandalism? Like, they're trying to reroute or something?

Is there any chance that the marking out was an act of official vandalism? Like, they're trying to reroute or something?

Well, I thought of that, actually. They do sometimes close trails. But the beginnings of the trails are marked with signs, and you'd think that they'd put a notice up on the sign saying "Buzzard's Rock trail closed because of erosion," or something.

What kind of person thinks that's funny? I do believe you've answered that question earlier in the paragraph: an asshole. Ignore him to the degree possible; anything resembling recognition will encourage him. If you're feeling energetic and civic-minded, next time take along some paint and undo his damage.

That sounds like a very good day, quads aside. Did you see anything especially interesting?

That sounds like a very good day, quads aside. Did you see anything especially interesting?

I was surprised to see that the leaves are already falling. As we walked along the top of the ridge, the ground was scattered with brilliant yellow sycamore leaves. Beautiful, but it makes for treacherous walking. In the valley the leaves were still green.

And it was a good day. It was cool and crisp, a great day to be out in the woods, and I feel so great about being able to hike that far.