The Trudge Report

I went hiking this weekend with Reuben, one of my old college roommates. We had ambitious plans -- awake at 8 a.m. Sunday, drive the two hours to Shenandoah National Park and then hike for 10 miles. One might say the plans were overly ambitious.

After playing video games until later than we should have, we awoke at 9 and got to the trailhead at 1 p.m. Still, the guidebook said the hike, which was of moderate difficulty, would take five hours -- totally doable before the sun set.

Unfortunately, our pace didn't quite keep up. It could have been that we stopped a lot to take photos of the fall colors. Or it's possible the guy who writes hiking guides for a living was in better shape. It was probably the photos.

It was a beautiful hike, though, filled with some nice panoramas that would have been even better if they had only cut down some of the trees that were blocking the view.

After a couple of short, but steep, sidetrips to see some waterfalls, we began to get a little tired.

We were at mile marker 2.1.

We carried on though, up and down hills, fording rivers and scaring what we're pretty sure was an owl into quick flight. We saw leaf bugs, stick bugs and, toward the end, a few deer. I took my regular, nondigital camera, though, so I'm afraid I can't show off the 2.5 rolls of film I took in the first three hours before the batteries in my camera died. Sorry about that.

By the time we had gone about four miles, two things were obvious:
1) Hiking the full 10 miles was not a good idea if we wished to survive.
2) There was no way we were going to make 10 miles before dark.

So we decided to take an alternative route that cut off a little less than two miles from the hike. It was uphill for most of the way back, and it's here that the hiking became more like trudging. Where the first part of the hike had been filled with laughter and talking, now there was mostly silence and trying not to think about how much farther we had to go. I bided my time thinking of various ways we could instead be moving -- four-wheeler Segway, flying monkey, the Batwing, which I would call using my remote control. Sadly, none of these were an option.

As it began to get darker, we picked up the pace, much to the dismay of our major muscle groups. We had already discussed that if we were stuck in the woods overnight, I could eat Reuben if it became necessary. It only made sense -- he was the bigger of us and would provide more sustenance. Sure, I still had two Nutrigrain bars in my pack, but I would probably want those for the hike out the next morning.

Luckily for everyone, we got to the car as the last light was fading.
Overall, it was fun, but next time, maybe I'll aim a little shorter for the first hike of the season.

And I'll bring ketchup. Just in case.