Ok, so Thanksgiving turned out to be pretty easy this year! There was a lot going on with the family in terms of planning, preparing food, and batteling some illness. But, we managed to get to all the respective places and spend time with everyone. Ideally, you would have unlimited time with everyone, but that’s not a reality. Overall, I am really happy with how we allocated our time this Thanksgiving and I’m really thankful for the amazing family that we have. Hopefully, you & yours had a wonderful holiday!
I’m still working on the review of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Boy Scout Trail on Petit Jean Mountain. I’ve wanted to do this trail for a long time but never had the courage to get past that first step. I can say that overall it was a great hike and that’s with me making a wrong turn and adding a mile to my route. That’s really what I want to talk about today.
The difference I felt on that hike before & after the mistake was with me a lot of the Thanksgiving week. Simple mistakes on the trail, and really I’m writing metaphorically about life here, can be hard to shrug off. That hike didn’t go as planned at all. I can appreciate the overall smallness of these things now, but they were just a lot of compound interest multiplied over the wrong turn.
My iPhone battery died really quickly and I was left navigating the trail without the AllTrails app that I’m sort of fond of. I wasn’t going to be able to record my route or waypoints with AllTrails. The Garmin GPS unit I had didn’t have a map on it, so the path I recorded was just a black line on the screen. Because I wasn’t able to capture all the waypoints I wanted for the hike I felt like my first trail review wasn’t going to be as good as it should have. I didn’t set the white balance on my camera, so the photos and videos weren’t the best quality they could be.
That’s a lot of stuff adding up quickly and all of it has a negative undertone. I tried everything I could to get over the hump and get back to enjoying the trail, but I just couldn’t shake it. However, by the 7th mile, I was worn out and hurting so fatigue took the place of negative thoughts. I can say that the last 2 miles were a grind. Nothing but the determination to finish being enough to get over how tired I was. I added a couple more stops than I planned and had snacks on the trail, as opposed to the finishing snacks I planned.
That is just how the trail went that day, but it was a great experience. I was sore for a couple of days, but I felt the craving to go back out there and hike it again. I want to revise my original plan and take another shot at the Boy Scout Trail! I want to do the trail with 7 Hollows included getting the full 12-mile experience. I want to add some beginning time to set up my electronics, so I can best capture the adventure.
Without sounding too cheesy, I want to take what I learned and have another go at it! That’s really what hiking is all about for me. Having the adventure and learning more about what I’m capable of. Enjoying the adventure and being thankful for the beautiful places we have to visit here in Arkansas. Appreciating the trail and what I can learn. Onward and upward friends, and happy trails!