Ah, another steamy day on the trail. It was definitely in the high 90s today, with lots of lovely humidity. Today's hike took us to Catoctin Mountain Park in Thurmont, MD (20 min. north of Frederick), a trail I'd never hiked before. We were warned in advance that there was a fairly steep climb near the end, good practice for the Grand Canyon!
My friends Ramune and Patrick were the brave souls who joined me for this one. The three of us, with my teammate, Ginna, completed the (supposed 6-hour) hike in about 5.5 hours. The coolest part about this trail is the diversity of the flora and rocks throughout the park. We would hike through a thinly wooded area, then climb a small hill and suddenly find ourselves surrounded by tall ferny groundcover. We'd turn a corner and find ourselves surrounded by huge boulders among pine trees, or we'd reach a creek and suddenly need a machete to cut through the thick bushes and vines. One part of the trail was lined with large hunks of white quartz.
For some reason, the hills were particularly difficult for me on this trail. I don't know if was the heat or humidity or something I ate, but I actually felt sick to my stomach for a stretch. I sat for a few minutes (and practiced taking photos of tree fungus on the stump beside me) to catch my breath and the nausea went away. I slipped on some loose dirt and fell about halfway through the hike. My lower back started acting up on the last uphill jaunt, and I'm pretty sure it was because my herniated disc was aggravated by the fall - one of the most dangerous things I can do to myself. (My chiropractor keeps telling me how much I want to avoid back surgery, so I have to be extra careful out there!)
Other than the last hill, I really enjoyed this hike. Like many of the other training hikes I've done, it would be much more pleasant to try it again in the fall. It was way too hazy to see any views in the distance. Here's a picture of my three hike buddies near one of the overlooks.
Click here to see more pictures from my hike.
1 comment:
It was fun going on the hike with you. Good luck in the Grand Canyon! I imagine the view will be quite a bit nicer than the "view" at Thurmont Vista.
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