Trail hunting

I got up late today (7am). That's funny that it seems like 7am is late to me now. Anyway, I drove over to the High Chaparral Open Space to check out the trail over there. First problem was that you can't turn into the open space going west on Stetson Hills so I had to go up the road and turn around to get to the entrance. There was a trail map there but I just don't know how to read those darn things. If there had been some signs I might have been okay but I didn't see anything beyond the trail map. So I went off down a gravel road first but that only led to a neighborhood street so I turned around and went back to the entrance. Then I followed the paved path. The path itself was nice but it was completely downhill on the way out and had quite a drop in elevation. All I could think of was the hike back uphill with the elevation gain. I walked for a couple of minutes, realized that the trail was all downhill and decided to turn around and go back to the car. It was a pretty good little hike but I didn't enjoy it at all. Strike one.

I left the High Chaparral area and went down to the wetlands on Stetson Hills. I drove around the neighborhood but couldn't find a path down to what appeared to be a trail. I was getting a little frustrated and decided to go home. Strike two.

On the way home I decided that I needed to get a walk in somewhere and I didn't feel like walking around the community so I headed to Palmer Park. But on my way there I realized that it was an overcast day and that would make it a perfect day to try the stairs at Waldo Canyon. So I drove up Ute Pass to the Waldo Canyon trail.


I figured out pretty quickly that I wasn't really in shape to walk the whole up and back but I wanted to go as far as I could. First I had to get past the first flight of stairs.


I made it up the first flight of stairs. Woohoo! That was a major accomplishment. I walked on the trail to the second set of stairs. I looked at them and thought that there was no way that I could make myself get up those stairs. But I did!


It was a major ordeal, but I made it up the stairs. All of them! I thought about turning back but decided to try to make it to the Highway 24 overlook. It wasn't easy. I realized after I got off the stairs that I had left my water bottle in the car so I knew I wouldn't be going too far. (By the way, I had my water pack ready to go this morning only to realize that it had a leak where the hose came out the bottom. I was disappointed that I couldn't use it. Never thought to try David's though. Duh!) So I kept going up the trail hoping to make it to the overlook. And by gosh, I did it. I got to the overlook and stopped to catch my breath and take a picture.


It was definitely worth the walk up to get to the overlook. The view was amazing. And since it was overcast I could sit there for a few minutes without burning up. I tried going further up the trail but realized it wasn't a good idea without water, so I turned around and headed down the trail. I wish I could have done more if only to see the beautiful trail up ahead. But I didn't want to push my luck so I headed back down. The hike down was a whole lot easier than going up but the stairs were still ahead of me. I got down the stairs a lot easier than I thought I would. I was expecting my knees to really bother me but that wasn't the case. Even my right knee, which is sore a lot of the time, did okay. I was so psyched.

When I got down to the parking lot I drank some water. I should have brought a snack to eat afteer the hiking but I didn't do that. I stopped at the Loaf 'n Jug and got a small bag of peanuts. I only had a couple dollars with me. If I had had a bit more I probably would have stopped to get an ice tea too. But I'm glad I didn't. Too much sugar in those things.

So I'm home resting now, with my shoes off and my feet up. I feel like it was a major accomplishment to hike up as far as I did in Waldo Canyon. I look forward to a day when I'm better prepared with water and a snack to go even further up the trail. I know I could do the up and back now with the right preparation. It would be hard and it would take me a while, but I know I could do it.

Since I didn't get a lot of walking in this morning, I'm going to walk over to the mailbox this afternoon. It's still overcast and in the high 70's so it will be an easier walk than when the sun is beating down on me. I did miss Palmer Park today and look forward to going up there tomorrow. It's 11:20am so I'm going to get myself some lunch. Not sure what I'll have yet but I am hungry. I'm still craving junk food. I'll be glad when that is over with. I keep telling myself that I can have some junk "just once" and I'm walking so I should be okay with eating it, but I know I'm just trying to convince myself that it's okay to do when it's not. I feel like it will be a struggle today to stay away from junk food but I'm up for the challenge. I'm not sure I can prevail, but I know I can try.

Tuesday night out

Jasmine tea. Yum!


Egg drop soup


Sweet and sour chicken with vegetables and fried rice


Fortune cookie and orange for dessert.


What a good day today. I walked this morning at Palmer Park and then this afternoon to the mailbox. Tonight we went out to dinner which wasn't a great thing to do but the up side of it is that I really couldn't eat much. I got water and jasmine tea to drink, no soda. I thought that I really wanted to go out for dinner and get Chinese food but it turns out that I just didn't enjoy it that much. The food was great but I just didn't enjoy eating something that heavy on the stomach. That's a good thing. It'll make me think twice about eating out again. I'm still not sure what to do for meals but I know that I will eventually. Anyway, we had a nice time at dinner (even if they did give us WAY TOO MUCH food!) and I'm glad that I had more leftovers than food that I ate.

This thing looked like some kind of weed but the flowers on it were gorgeous.

This is the tunnel under 30th Street that leads from the parking area to the Foothills Trail in Garden of the Gods.


After dinner we drove over to 30th Street so I could check out the trail that goes from the little bridge over to the Garden of the Gods entrance. It's about a mile trail. There were beautiful flowers there. The tunnel under the road is charming. And of course the Garden itself is just so beautiful. I walked down the path to the tunnel and it was quite a steep part of the trail. The uphill got me pretty good but I could do it. Two weeks ago I never would have been able to walk that little bit of trail.

This is my favorite view of the Garden.



We caught the Garden at the perfect time of day. Just unbelievable. From Garden of the Gods we drove up Austin Bluffs to Stetson Hills and we drove by the High Chaparral Open Area. Know that I know where it is I'll stop by there and see if there are any trails. Then from there we went over to Lowe's. David wanted to walk around over there (he's such a guy). So I got a lot of walking in today. I'm still looking forward to walking in the morning too. The best part of the drive was the yellow flowers across Marksheffel.



Overall it was a great day. I'm really happy that I can walk as much as I have been walking. It's funny though how little things still wind me but as long as I can walk in the mornings I'm happy.

I don't want to forget the best part of our adventure tonight. We stopped at the Trading Post so I could get a free trails map of Garden of the Gods. They had they most scrumptious looking fudge that you could imagine. They even had my favorite - Tiger Butter! I realized that I didn't have my wallet with me so I couldn't get any. Then I remembered that I had cash in my pocket. I was so tempted to get some fudge but I walked out with just the trails map. No fudge. I am so proud of myself. One day eating fudge won't be a big deal and will be a nice treat but now is not the time.

We also stopped at the Visitor's Center because I knew they had a different trails map over there. Of course the maps were upstairs. I considered the elevator for a split second and then decided that a walk up the stairs would be good for me. I made it up without much effort. Man, that felt good.

Things are definitely changing for me. My back still feels okay and I'm still up for walking in the morning. If I find out that I've overdone it tonight when I go to walk tomorrow I'll just ease up on the walk some. I think I'll try to go up to the overlook tomorrow to add in some time to the walk (if I'm up to it). Plus, it's just such a beautiful view from there.