Trailblazing

My sister, Marge and I are starting to get ourselves better acquainted with the endless miles of forest trails we have going through our otherwise traffic-ridden island. We went to High Rock Park for the first time not too long ago and decided to head back out for an early hike this morning.


Not knowing much about hiking, I don't know if these symbols are familiar to you all, because I don't know if they're used in other places besides here. But they are the trail markers. The blue trail is one of the longest and we ventured down part of it today, working our way towards the small but pretty Walker Pond. Marge dipped her feet in and came out with paws full of mud.


Though nothing more than a mere stroll in the woods in comparison to some of the adventures other people go on, I think I can speak for all of us when I say we were quite pleased with the fact that we were able to navigate the trails without much difficulty. Everyone has to start somewhere.

I tried to get on the Yellow trail, which the Parks Department calls a "moderate-to-difficult" trail, but we seemed to reach a dead end at one point and could not continue. We followed all of the markers, but kept winding up at the same spot, surrounded by downed trees and lots of mud. The Yellow trail leads up to Moses' Mountain, the highest point in the Greenbelt, where we'd really like to go sometime soon. If only we could figure out how to get there!

Unsurprisingly, Marge appreciated being away from the sights and sounds of regular living and had a great time wandering through the park. We walked through the woods at ease, met by very few other individuals - only 2 or 3 (all men) - who Marge wasn't really shaken by. She did hear the sounds of the Boy Scout Camp in the distance near Lake Ohrbach when we decided to wander up that way, but since the goal of this trip was to stay away from everything and just take in nature, I didn't press the issue. We had already been there almost two hours, the temperature was climbing and we were all tired, so we packed up and headed home. She slept contentedly in the living room for a few hours afterward.