A sunny day for hiking

Back to the hiking trails this afternoon. It's a beautiful sunny day and I had energy, plus a large lunch that needed to be walked off.

I went determined to reach the top of this trail, then loop back home, and I made it! All the way, nonstop other than being stopped by an aggressive (unleashed!) dog, and talking to a couple of city trail people briefly. One hour and 15 minutes for probably around 3 miles of walking.

Can't say I'm not a little proud of that! I kept about a 2-mile (2mph) pace going up this trail (1 mile in 30 minutes), but faster than that once I got to the top and found the rest of the trail to be mostly level, or gentle ups and downs. Not at my old hiking pace, by any means, but not bad for an old lady, either. My legs and body were strong and full of energy the entire time, and are still that way. The pounds may not be falling off me, but my fitness level has most certainly increased, so I have no complaints.

Here's the city trail map for the area. I added the red arrows, the 3-pronged star at the H on  'martin street trailhead', and the black lines radiating from the star. Two and a half miles of marked trail, and surely another half mile or more of black trail, which shows the private connecting trails to and from home. The star is home, roughly. 438' elevation gain, all in that first mile. I've hiked worse, certainly, but not recently. And it was painless -- that's the best part. It's just good to know I can still do it, and it's even better to know that I can just step outside my front door and access all of this and much, much more that's not shown on this portion of the map.

I think it'll be awhile before I attempt to cross the street there at Fox Hollow and go to the top of the butte, but at least I know I can get part way with no trouble.

Life is good.