Hiking

So i went hiking today. Strapped on a new pair of hiking boots and a pack full of "supplies" and away we went. I'll have you know that I'm a total nature/wilderness freak but i have lacked people with which to do things. I've been waiting patiently for my cousins to get old enough to do proper camping trips but once they finally did, i up and move away. Boo. Anyways, i consider myself to be reasonably fit for a person who runs a few miles a week and walks wherever she needs to go but when i agreed to go on this hike it didn't occur to me until i was out of breath and on my hands and knees pulling myself up a rocky hill face that i have no experience with walking trails that go UP.

JROTC trips to Moss Park and summers at Camp Blanding (7 years ago) does not a hiker make.

The three guys i was with were scrambling up and down the trail with ease. But i, being much shorter, could not reach the rocks they could and so stumbled along the best that i could. i managed to keep up for most of the day but at one point they did have to stop and wait for me to finish sliding down the hill.

Scared the crap out of myself when a huge black racer snake slithered out right in front of me. And then promptly stepped in deer poop.

Best part of the day however was the hunt for geocaches. "Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value."

We found 3! The first one was past a little waterfall (and the stream where i nearly slipped in). The second was buried under some rocks. After having that snake jump out at me i wasn't about to go reaching into any holes in the ground. And the third was by a tree on the side of a cliff. So freaking cool.

We only did a little over 3 miles but it took us a few hours to do them.