The View from the Ridge, Hunt's Loop Trail, Ouahita National Forest
On Wednesday, March 18, 2009 we decided to go hiking. The night before we had chosen Hunt's Loop Trail in the Ouachita National Park. Now the brochure I had said this was an easy to moderate hike. We found out later it was an easy to difficult hike.
The trail is a 4.3 mile loop. The nice man at the information center recommended that we start up the mountain as it was easier on the knees going up than down. Up the mountain was correct. I would not have made it without my walking stick. It was steep, rocky, and I thought we would never get to the top.
I started off carrying the bag. I always carry the bag. After I got about 3/4's of the way up the mountain, I decided the youngest should carry the bag. I was struggling to keep my balance. When we got to the top it was marked as 1,372 feet. I never knew if that meant that was how far up we had gone or if that was just the elevation for the ridge we were on. I just knew that I was tired, and we still had a long way to go. While there were some easy paths along the ridge, I would consider this to be a moderate trail from the ridge down, and I really thought it would never end.
I have hiked a lot over the years, but this was a tough one. Of course I am fatter than I was last time we went hiking by about 10 pounds, and I am a year older, but still, it was a hard hike. The boys were hurting too. By the time we got to the car we didn't want to move another step.
We decided to stop at Wendy's for dinner and then head home to watch the youngest's and my favorite show "Life." I have to say it was hard to raise the food to my mouth at Wendy's, and getting up out of the chair was not easy. As the boys were helping me up I told them I was too old for this stuff, and another man in the dining area said he was right there with me. It was all I could do to say "I didn't see your butt up there on that ridge." Exhaustion makes me meaner than usual.
We got back to the house and I decided to jump into the shower before "Life" started. Well, jump wasn't exactly what I did. First of all, it was a jacuzzi tub and the wall of the tub was higher than my knees which made every shower a challenge, but that night, okay, I'm not proud of it but there was screaming involved. Fortunately, the water pressure there was heaven and the water was hot, hot, hot. It was wonderful having all that heat hit my sore muscles.
The rest of the night was just television watching. No quilting, no reading, just television. We didn't even play our nightly game of Quirkle. We didn't think we could lift the tiles.
The trail is a 4.3 mile loop. The nice man at the information center recommended that we start up the mountain as it was easier on the knees going up than down. Up the mountain was correct. I would not have made it without my walking stick. It was steep, rocky, and I thought we would never get to the top.
I started off carrying the bag. I always carry the bag. After I got about 3/4's of the way up the mountain, I decided the youngest should carry the bag. I was struggling to keep my balance. When we got to the top it was marked as 1,372 feet. I never knew if that meant that was how far up we had gone or if that was just the elevation for the ridge we were on. I just knew that I was tired, and we still had a long way to go. While there were some easy paths along the ridge, I would consider this to be a moderate trail from the ridge down, and I really thought it would never end.
I have hiked a lot over the years, but this was a tough one. Of course I am fatter than I was last time we went hiking by about 10 pounds, and I am a year older, but still, it was a hard hike. The boys were hurting too. By the time we got to the car we didn't want to move another step.
We decided to stop at Wendy's for dinner and then head home to watch the youngest's and my favorite show "Life." I have to say it was hard to raise the food to my mouth at Wendy's, and getting up out of the chair was not easy. As the boys were helping me up I told them I was too old for this stuff, and another man in the dining area said he was right there with me. It was all I could do to say "I didn't see your butt up there on that ridge." Exhaustion makes me meaner than usual.
We got back to the house and I decided to jump into the shower before "Life" started. Well, jump wasn't exactly what I did. First of all, it was a jacuzzi tub and the wall of the tub was higher than my knees which made every shower a challenge, but that night, okay, I'm not proud of it but there was screaming involved. Fortunately, the water pressure there was heaven and the water was hot, hot, hot. It was wonderful having all that heat hit my sore muscles.
The rest of the night was just television watching. No quilting, no reading, just television. We didn't even play our nightly game of Quirkle. We didn't think we could lift the tiles.
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