A New Activity?

I do not really remember how I ran across this book a couple weeks ago. I think I was on my phone browsing books at the library when I ran across it.

I checked out the book from the library and it sat in my home office for a couple weeks while I kept meaning to look through it. Finally I knew I would have to renew or return it, so I looked through it. I am a biker and not a hiker, but I love being outdoors and some of these trails really caught my attention. My first inclination was to copy the info for a few of these hikes, but the more I looked through it, I knew there was too much good stuff to copy. I knew I had some Amazon purchase points accumulated so I checked and, sure enough, I could get this book for "free" by redeeming points. 

As I was looking through this book last night, I remembered an email I had received a few weeks before from AllTrails.

I looked up a couple of the trails from the book on the AllTrails website and found even more helpful information, as well as discovered the AllTrails app would allow GPS use on the trail. An annual subscription came with a 30 day money-back guarantee, so I thought I would check this out, too.

On a related-but-side-note, I read a couple books on sabbath rest this last year and have been thinking about being more intentional with my day off (Friday). My days off have been out of the office, but not very intentional. I almost always have a longer-than-usual quiet time with the Lord on Fridays, but after that I mix doing "nothing" (aka piddle farting around accomplishing nothing), some home chores, doing a little church work, doing a computer job when one comes up and maybe a planned activity (reading, biking, taking dogs to the dog park, etc). Short version: I have decided to be more intentional in saying "no" to work-related activities, no teaching prep and choosing an activity that refreshes me (biking, geocaching, dog walking, etc).

With all of this in mind, the hiking/trails really interested me. I was not sure how it would go given my knee issues, but as I mentioned, I love being outside and in nature, so I thought I'd give it a try. Today I picked a relatively short hike (just under 3 miles) close to home: The Cedar Brake Trail in the Cedar Ridge Preserve about 20 minutes from home. Of course I had to take the dogs with me.

We had a GREAT time today and it seems like I picked a good hike to start with (nice scenery, all in the woods, somewhat rugged trails with a few hills). It also appears the uneven terrain was easier on both my knee and my back (muscle aches on longer walks due to being so out of shape).

I've already picked another couple hikes for us to try. We'll have to see how it goes with the dogs and hot weather (how much water I can carry), but we've got a couple months before hot weather rolls in. Today was very enjoyable and a MUCH needed refreshing, so I guess we're gonna try to more trails in the coming weeks.