Hiking vs Walking

My cousin is on her way and will arrive tonight, and we plan to do some light hiking while she is here. Recently I've been reading some other hiking blogs, and by "other" I mean REAL hiking blogs by REAL hikers. So I've been thinking... if I haven't been really hiking, have I just been walking?

After some thought I have decided that if you can do it in clothes you wear to work, it is walking. If you have gear purchased for the sole purpose of walking in the woods, even if it is only one thing, then it is hiking. If you are walking on a paved or maintained path, it is walking, but if you are negotiating rocks and roots, going up and down, and you could not push a baby stroller on it, you are hiking.

I do not wear my work clothes or shoes when I go out, and I have:
1) a garmin 250 
2) trail shoes that should not be worn on concrete 
3) two pair of hiking boots (one for regular, one for wet and muddy)
4) hiking poles 
5) a camelbak hydration pack for longer outings 
6) two double-bottle waist packs for shorter outings (one can also hold an extra lens, if I so desire) 
7) one of those safari-style hats with a little neck hangy-down part to protect the back of your neck from the sun 
8) an emergency medicine pack that I carry with me in case of back spasms or vertigo. 


I may have more, but this is all I can remember at the moment. Where I go you could not push a baby stroller.

I go hiking.

Dog on a Log

Ann drove over for a hike today, and we arrived before noon. Temp ended up warmer than we had expected, and we didn't like it, but the hike was still great. We took the lowest trail to the last trail up, which is a long, steep, slippy trail. I decided I was too tired to go up, so we turned around and went back. It had been about 1 1/2 years since we had taken the lowest trail, and on the way out we mistakenly took the wrong trail down to the lower. With my camera dangling and swinging around my neck, I never would have made it down safely without my pole. We won't be making that mistake again.


Ann and Ed led the entire time because Eddie has to be in the lead. It was too hot for butterflies, but I did get a few pics.

 The oddest thing we came across was this perfectly laid out animal fur. It was practically in the shape of a body, I'm thinking rabbit, with tail and leg fur. There was no skin and no bones, only a perfect wig of fur

 Ann stopped and squealed early in the hike when she saw a long skinny green snake sticking the upper part of its body up and out of this hole. We had a stand-off for a few seconds, but by the time I lifted and focused my camera it had disappeared back down; we waited a while but it didn't come back up. This was the best thing we saw today

It looked a lot like this

 On our way back I was hanging back a ways from Ann and Ed, and I saw this huge ant struggling and shaking, then wobbling, then recuping and scurrying off the trail; I think either Ann or Ed must have stepped on it

  I believe this is a green stinkbug nymph; I've seen a few little ones similar to this, but never this one. It's especially cute!

 Down in the shadows of the lower trail, just off the path, Ann found this book-in-a-bag. The title is Dead Runner. Ooooh, kinda scary; it's probably left-over booty from a scavenger hunt one of the organizations held at some time - I can always count on trash and marker debris left on the trails after their events

Near the end of the hike I took many pics of this bee on the aster-type flower; on our way out there was a bee on this very same aster clump, don't know if it was the same bee, but at least I took the time to shoot him on the way back in

 This log on the lower trail has hatch marks and even a smile, I guess to resemble an alligator, and of course I had to walk across it both times; here Ann is trying to get Ed to go across, but he is afraid of it; I shot the whole series of her trying to coax him across, and he finally made it about half-way before hopping off

Here he just sat, stared and refused to get on; I think Ann is sweet-talking him

Ann, near the end of our hike, looking fresh as a daisy! Well, not so much her looking fresh as it was her stopping to make sure I hadn't collapsed while hoisting my carcass uphill to the next level of trails; snapping her pic was merely a delay tactic to get a chance to lean against a tree and rest!

3rd Hike

Today made 3 in a row for me and Eddie. My practice has always been that I can manage two of the following 3 items, but never all 3: Eddie, camera, hiking pole. After today I don't really want to take Eddie when I plan to take pics. I missed a few good shots of butterflies with him, but it was still nice having him there.


We went in the back way, blue/yellow/off shoot to the top, then meandered. My purpose was to take a pic of the huge fungus clump at the base of that tree. We also saw a good number of pearl crescents, common buckeyes, and skippers, along with the fall harvestmen everywhere.


We were out there for 1 hr, 25 minutes. Our time and distance are improving. I wore my new trail shoes for the 2nd time today, and so far I love them.

little fall asters where everywhere, some white and some light lavender

 common buckeye; most of the butterflies I saw today were weathered

 large clump of fungus mushrooms; if you enlarge it you can see the two harvestmen near the top and one near the bottom

 2 clumps in different stages of decay

 fall grasshoppers are always plentiful, this is the best shot I could get of it on my shorts and trying to focus with one hand while Ed was tugging at the other

 this katydid also landed on me, then flipped on over to a tree

one of the many pearl crescents I shot today

Laziness- 1, Declutter - 0

After lazing around and even napping in the new recliner, doing anything so as NOT to get my de-cluttering task accomplished, I decided to go to TM.  Eddie was thrilled, and we had a great time with perfect weather again.


While meandering on the mountain top I saw several fungus clumps in various stages of decay. I had never seen clumps like these before so kept looking for them, finally finding a couple of fresh clumps. The fresh clumps just happened to be at the base of the same tree where I had photographed a vertical village of mushroom/fungus things about 3 years ago. Anyway, I will take my camera next time and hopefully get a pic.


Instead of starting out at the trailhead, today I entered the back way, and quickly decided that's what I'll be doing. I didn't run into anyone else until the blue met the yellow 1/2 way up, and that was nice.


Hike today was 10 minutes longer than yesterday. Eddie hasn't been used to getting out like this since May, and last night he fell asleep almost immediately and began heavy snoring. Right now he's lying beside my chair, snoring. Awwww.

1st Hike Since May

Although making some progress toward my master plan for the house de-clutter, I'm always finding reasons to delay. Today was a wonderful, not-too-warm, brisk windy day, and I jumped up, harnessed up Eddie and we went to TM. I'm not going to spend time bemoaning how all the yuppie do-gooder "park friends" are ruining the place, but I'm sad the days of yore are over.


The hike was great: went yellow/blue to the upper, up the tadpole to the turn for Yoshi pond, meandered around the top a bit then caught the blue back down to the lot. Things I forgot to bring on the hike:
    < hiking pole (left in my car)
    < garmin 
    < sweat rag (left in car)
    < water (left in car)
    < trash bag
    < emergency pills
    < Eddie's prong collar
    < virginal trail shoes


My cousin will be here soon so I've got to get back in the groove.


I knew it was too windy to take the camera, so I didn't even try. We saw only one pic-worthy subject - a common green snake a little over 2 ft long. It was basking in the trail just as we turned east to the yoshi pond. Since I didn't have a rag or water I didn't want to pick it up... didn't want to deal with snake ass that couldn't get washed off - so I was content to rub my finger down its back and watch it dart away.


Total hike was 40 minutes, and my foot didn't hurt and still doesn't hurt. It was my first hike with my orthotics, and I can't believe I forgot to wear my new trail shoes! I was wearing my 2-year-old asics which have all the knobby nubs worn down, giving me very little traction. Dang.


I plan to go again tomorrow; I need to go charge my garmin.

Lorenzo, Eggs, and Babies

First thing I did this morning was check on the dagger moth caterpillar, which I've named Lorenzo (to go with Alonzo.)

The early part of the day he worked at making the leaf disappear

But by about noon he had settled down on the central vein and stayed there the rest of the day

From the naked eye his spikes looked dangerously sharp and poisonous, but after looking at this closeup I dared to tickle them with my fingertip. They are very soft and flexible

Since I had my camera around my neck and went ahead and walked the perimeter of the yard and found two more McBuggers:

A Pennsylvania leatherwing (soldier beetle) who had been hiking through pollen

And a cute little skimmer who was posed patiently while I took lots of shots

Yesterday while sitting at the computer I noticed a funny little pattern on the window and investigated. It looks like an insect laid eggs on my window, and now I'll have another life form to keep my eye on.

Cluster of eggs

  

Close up of eggs

A few weeks ago I noticed something funny on the outside of the front door and I sort of brushed it off. When I looked more closely I realized they looked like insect eggs. Last night I happened to be looking through my insect book and saw the same type of eggs. I am happy to know that they are lacewing eggs.

I had already rubbed most of them off. They are teeny tiny white eggs on the tips of long thread-like stalks. The base of the stalks are stuck to the door

And speaking of eggs, the 5 turtle eggs that hatched last fall were kept through the winter by a surrogate mother, then passed to a 2nd surrogate mother for the spring and summer so they could live outside. They are going to stay there and hibernate for the winter. 

I was over there around 7pm, and the babies were putting themselves to bed, but these 3 were still out. They have different color dots on them so they could make sure they were all eating. Turtles tend to be quite piggy about their food

            

This surrogate family has a special compound just for the turtles, with a pond and all sorts of obstacles to   make the turtles' lives interesting. Here the western ornate has owned a little cave cubby at the side of the pond

And here are my 3 boys. Rebel is using Mr. Doc to demonstrate for Elwood how to be the boss

Moth Caterpillars

First, the junk house: the following evening the pods were gone and this was going on:

The next day all the rubble was gone. The kid's toys are still on the front patio, and the fsbo sign still is in the yard.


This evening I was playing ball with Eddie and noticed the small redbud transplant had an area of completely stripped leaves

So I looked around on the leaves and found this American dagger moth underneath a large leaf:

I looked around for more caterpillars, but found only a couple of more areas where the leaves had been stripped. I know already the first thing I will do when I get up tomorrow.


As long as I had my camera out I strolled the perimeter and looked for other buggy things. This spider thing, I'm not even certain it's a spider but I believe it is, on a rose of sharon bloom:

And since I'm posting the American dagger moth decided to include Alonzo, the carolina sphinx moth from last year:

Alonzo feasted for a few days on one of my potted tomato plants, and one day while at work I had decided to feed him to the turtles that evening. When I arrived home Alonzo was gone. I read they bury themselves in the soil, pupate, then emerge in the spring, I think. Alonzo was named by my co-worker who has to endure all my buggy adventures.


Today my mom and I took her new car out for a spin, and we made a quick stop at TM. I can't wait to get back out there. I have a follow-up appt for my stupid foot on Tuesday, and am hoping to get the green light to start walking/hiking again. Our weather is approaching perfection.