Hike Notes
Meet the first lake of the Lake District today: Ennerale Lake. Spent the first half the day in a very windy misty rain as we walked around it on fairly rocky paths. At one point we had to descend maybe 20 feet or so down a scar in the rocks. Fun!
As we were about to leave the lake, we stopped for lunch on a bridge over a stream.
Good Lunch view...
The bathroom view isn't too shabby either.
After lunch, we walked along a forests edge for a ways before reaching our big ascent for the day.
Of course at that point it started to rain again, and harder than before. I got trapped in a lot of boggy and wet bits and by the end of the day my shoes were covered in mud. The ~2000ft ascent up was a real challenge in the wind, fog, and rain. Had to climb what seemed like a million rock steps that lined the side of a stream going down the mountain (definitely reminded me of something you'd see in a Peter Jackson movie). Thighs got a very good work out.i was having to take a break every 20 steps or so. It was tough to stop and take pictures of this part since I had to focus all my brain power on getting to the top without falling. Had some pretty good views at the top... I assume. Couldn't tell because of all the fog.
Once again, the climb down was worse. This time because of all the pointy rocks jabbing my feet as we went. Feet were extremely tender by the end of the day. No blisters though, by some miricale. Ended the day at a disused slate mine where I promptly sat down and let the pain in my feet wash over me before feeling slightly better.
Foot status: 1 / 10 million pointy rocks out of 10
Comfort Soup
Decided to crack open my dehydrated beans and vegetables after the hike. Thought the 'comfort stew' would be appropriate. Poured out 3 helpings in some water and waited for it to rehydrate. And waited. And waited. I guess it takes a while when you're not heating it up at all... In the end it was pretty good (I'm not a huge lentils fan) albeit a little crunchy.
Comfort sold separately.
Hikers Exposed - Samantha Pt. 2
Originally when I thought of this segment, I planned to focus on a different hiker each day. However, I didn't really know a whole lot about Samantha when I made the post about her (one of the draw backs to being written about after only one day I guess). I know more about her now. A lot more. So let's give it another shot.
As a brief disclaimer: I told Samantha ("Please. Call me Sam. Samantha was my father" har har Sam) about this segment and that I wrote about her for the first one and was thinking about doing another on her and she loved the idea. I tried to give her the URL to this site but she didn't want it. She said she wanted me to give her a "fair shake" and that if she were to know how to find what I wrote, I might not be as truthful as I would be otherwise. I appreciated the candidness (so much so that I felt OK taking notes this time), fortunately (unfortunately?) I don't have anything bad to say about her really...
Sam is a Californian. Born and Raised. She's originally from Santa Barbara but moved up to SF in the late 90s with her fiancé at the time. She has two sons: William (16) and Jessie (10). William is a bookworm and is set on becoming some kind of mechanical engineer. He'll probably end up being the first of his family to go to college. Jessie is "a baseball star" and apparently played in some ESPN televised little league games this year, which is pretty cool. She showed me a picture (from her wallet!) of the three of them at a Giants game. She's divorced now but has a long term boyfriend she's crazy about (her words). He's also a nurse at her hospital. He sticks flowers in her locker grate before she gets in sometimes ("It's so cheesy. I hate it" Sure Sam. Your ear to ear smile and the small flower in your wallet say otherwise).
Too tired to add any more, plus it's probably time to move on to someone else.