I must confess...

See how happy I am to be wearing pants?

 I don't really think I understand "hiking." To me, all our "hikes" have really just been walks on running trails. Maybe that's just because all of our hikes thus far have been on trails I know and used to/still do run on. Or, maybe, it's because when I think of hiking in my head I see crazy fit, slightly unkempt people with bandanas and zip off shorts trekking through the underbrush, while we hike in running clothes and tennis shoes on trails after work so we're all made up and pretty when we start. Wikipedia defines hiking as "walking outdoors on a trail for recreational purposes." I suppose we fit this. The silly depiction in my head has a much cooler name, at least in the UK. Bushwhacking! That sounds so intense.  Wikipedia has too many hiking names. Dog hiking- that's a hard one to figure out. Hill walking- hiking uphill. Duh. Llama hiking- I think I prefer burros. Waterfalling- no, this time it is not a drinking game term, it's hiking to actual waterfalls. Ultralight hiking- I'm not sure how cutting the tags out of your clothes really reduces that much weight. (Sarcasm there, the ultralight thing is actually really interesting and sounds pretty beneficial.) There's also freehiking. You can google that yourself. Doesn't sounds very fun to me; I like wearing pants. 

 Anyhow, last Tuesday Jenna was unable to hike, and then she left for the weekend, so a typical Saturday hike was also out of the question. I did go hiking with a couple friends though and had a lovely two-hour hike up Dimple Hill again, this time without a detour to Horse Trail like when Jenna and I went last time!

My friends weren't particularly used to going uphill for an hour, but were good sports, nonetheless. I'm pretty sure they thought we would never get to the top of the hill and that I had gotten them lost in the woods and we would be stuck out there forever, especially once it started getting dark, but hey, they should have walked faster. I'm afraid of the dark so I was booking it down that hill. They had to call out my name several times to wait up for them.

     

Oregon is an amazing place. It was cloudy and gross all day in the valley, so I was kinda hoping we might see the sun at the top of the hill. As you can tell from the title picture here, I got to see a little sun! However, a slight turn to the east would reveal a thunderhead over Corvallis. They aren't terribly common around here, more-so in Central Oregon, so I found it interesting.

Sean was just thrilled with our hike, as you can tell. We had to take him to the store to buy shoes to hike in since apparently he only has two pairs! Who does that?? Anyhow, I promise he enjoyed it more than you think. He just doesn't like pictures. 

I must have terrible walking mechanics. Look how many times I hit the other leg when taking steps! Maybe this has something to do with my bad knees. I should investigate.  

"Nature is always lovely, invincible, glad, whatever is done and suffered by her creatures. All scars she heals, whether in rocks or water or sky or hearts."  -John Muir