Kevin Bae: Well this is the inaugural episode of the casual
hike. So it's really rough and crude but it's sort of I think
what I want to do and it's it's long so it's an hour long this
hike the next episodes should be shorter hopefully as I hone my
process of recording the hikes anyway. I won't keep you too
long because the other stuff is an hour long. So here it comes.
Enjoy Hello testing
all right. On the backpack let's go Godfrey.
So I'm here on the bull Mountain Trail bull mountain loop the
purple trail rather me here with my dog Godfrey. And we just
finished like the straight connector trail that goes from
the Forest Service road to the trail I guess, I guess that
connector trails technically part of the loop. But we just
made it to the actual loop itself. And I just gave my dog a
water break. It's a little bit humid out here
all right. So
do I want to go clockwise or counterclockwise? Let's go
counterclockwise. So this trail is for biking, horseback riding
and hiking. You can bring your dog he's supposed to be on the
leash I'm the only one here right now. So I'm breaking the
rules a little bit but he's a good dog comes when called and I
will put them on the leash should we run across anybody so
I think from the parking the parking area too to to the
actual loop took us about 40 minutes, I think and it's like a
gentle incline you're pretty much going uphill
all the way so far.
But it's it's a gentle incline. And from my heavy breathing you
could tie it on walking for 4045 minutes I try tried to keep pace
for me the act of hiking I don't really care of about the
destination. Although it's it's good to have nice destinations.
More like I like the process, I guess they call it a process of
just kind of picking a trail and walking through the woods now
I'm from Chicago and you had to drive quite a ways. Couple hours
at least to get to anything even remotely like this. And then
when you did it was packed because there's nothing else
around so since I moved to Georgia in 2020 I think this is
my 10th hike. The first one I've decided to try to record
it's been it's been nice. I mean there's just like there's no end
to different places to go hiking in the north Georgia mountains.
Now haven't been to the Apple Appalachian Trail Although we
were on the small segment of it before when we went to
preachers rock
Oh, here we go a little bit of a downhill. I'm surprised. No, you
know what I forgot to do. i for i forgot to resume my trail map.
So I lost a little bit of data on there. I'm not good at
stopping and starting those things. I stopped it because I
was giving my dog some water he comes running up the trail. No
shortage of mosquitoes here this is early June, it's June 2. All
right, let's get going. And it's warm today. It's humid also
here. But it's, it's really nice for us to drill. So you won't
need any sunblock, at least for this portion. But you will need
bug spray because I got bugs buzzing around me all over the
place. Nothing's biting me, but
they're buzzing
I was saying before you gotta bring a lot of water, you're
bringing your dog, I think you got to bring a lot of water. I'm
not sure I brought quite enough I have enough. I don't really
drink that much. So if he needs to have some of mine, he can
have it. I've got two liters in a bladder. And I have a couple
of liters for him in separate collapsible bottles. And
normally, he doesn't drink this early, but it was kind of humid
out here was a horseshoe. Perhaps this is best left on the
side of the trail. Because there are nails sticking out of it.
Yeah. There aren't any at least so far up until this point, I'm
going counterclockwise around the around the loop. There's
been no water at all, no streams.
No nothing.
Because normally what my dog does is heads for the first
stream. If not to drink water to splash around and cool himself
off.
So what I'm going to try to do is I've got this little tiny
zoom F to field recorder with a lav mic. And it's kind of hooked
on to my backpack with the Leve on my shoulder strap. And to try
to minimize these long pauses because I'm not exactly sure
what I'm going to be doing with this little chat I'm having with
myself out in the middle of nowhere. But I'm going to try to
start and stop it. So I don't have so many pauses, in case I
use it for a podcast or something. I'm not exactly sure
what I'm doing.
All right, I'm on the early part of this loop. Again, I'm going
counterclockwise. We're starting to head downhill. Now this is a
second downhill stretch that I've encountered, because I've
gone all uphill pretty much from the beginning. So maybe this
loops back around because I think the the peak of this is
actually on the other side of this loop. But we'll see. I'm
going down. I'm assuming I'm gonna have to go back up.
I think one thing I'm going to try to do if I, if I choose to
try to make a podcast out of this. I'm going to take a
picture at least one picture at any time that I started talking.
And that way I can match it up with the podcast. And if you're
listening on a podcasting 2.0 compatible app that supports
chapters and chapter images, you'll be able to see these
images as They talk. So the one the picture that I just took
right now is again, you know the trail going forward, it's
heading downhill my dogs out in front of me. And that's it. If
there's something more exciting, they see, I'll take another
picture. I'm not sure if I'm recording or not recording what
the hell maybe I need to hook up some headphones so I can
monitor. By the way home, I don't know if you could hear any
of the mosquitoes that were buzzing around me when I
stopped. But that's just goes to show you that they are out here
and they're buzzing around. And the mosquito repellent I use is
full of deet. I don't mess around with the natural,
holistic other stuff. I don't use bug spray that often. So I'm
not all that concerned about it is the most effective thing and
I really don't want to get bitten too much. Because that's
a pain in the ass
so far the trail, the trail was rated hard on all trails. So
far, I don't find it very hard. It seems to me fairly moderate.
If you're able bodied, and can can walk, there's been nothing
to climb over, get a nice fallen tree over the trail here.
So, so far, I would not read this as hard. I'm a city kid.
So, kid, 55 year old city kid. Anyway, I'm from the city. So I
wouldn't read this hard. And I'm somebody who doesn't have a
whole lot of hiking experience. I've really only been doing this
in any meaningful fashion. For I don't know, five years maybe.
Okay, so I'm at the point now where the Red Trail meets up
with the purple trail. And so now, we're going to be doing
both I
think I'm making good progress. We're not even to the mean not
even close to the total end. So I'm hoping I didn't bite off
more than I can chew with this, like my normal hikes had been
around. I think the longest I've done is like a five, six mile
out and back. And this is only supposed to be like a 12 mile
loop. So I figured what's the difference? It's a loop instead
about and back.
Plus, it's a totally different area that I've been an ice Well,
I guess not totally. But I've been up in these mountains
around the area of the Monica, Georgia a few times now of
around Helen. I think the favorite one of my favorite ones
so far has been Panther Creek, even though you're not supposed
to walk on that one because the trails washed out. But when you
get to Panther creek falls, it's beautiful. I'm going to do that
one again. That was a hard one. I would read that one. It's
hard, especially because the Tris sections of the trail are
washed out. And you have to kind of go around and traverse the
creeks. It's not it's not tear wasn't terrible. That was last
year. But it's definitely not a moderate trail until they fix
it.
So the reason I decided to take this long loop, and I picked
this trail in particular, just because it's supposed to be very
lightly trafficked. The description and all Trails is
that you will be unlikely to run into somebody while you're out
here and I'm coming I'm on a Thursday you know, so I'm
picking Thursday, super early in the morning. I left my house
what time did I leave?
I left a little before six I think probably quarter to six or
something I got out here about seven o'clock. started hiking
maybe around 7057 10 Maybe. But my purposes is I'm on this
particular trail because it's supposed to be relatively empty.
And so far it's been great. There's been nobody here I was
the only car in the parking area. And I haven't seen hide
your hair of anybody on the trail. So my purpose is to I've
got a very high energy dog and he likes to go hiking He likes
to stay on the move. Much like me i like i like the act of
moving on the trails and not necessarily stopping. Like even
all the pictures that I take most of them is while I'm on the
move I just snap photos while I'm moving I really stop so I
guess partly his habits are are my fault but when I get to a
place and I want to take a break, he hates taking a break.
He just starts barking and going nuts and if I'm in an area where
there's water he's like trying to dig up boulders and grabbing
tree limbs. There were one area one place when I went to Panther
creek falls he started digging away this dead tree trying to
take it down. I really don't know and so I can't get him to
calm down I don't didn't really have time because Panther creek
falls even though the trails washed out. There are other
hikers on that trail so I'm hoping to get on this trail to
get somewhere around that halfway point and take a break
and try to get him to calm down and I won't be disturbing
anybody other than maybe wild animals with his shenanigans
that's at least the goal we'll see what happens when we when we
get to a midpoint All right, so we've hit an area of the trail
that's temperature wise dropped probably five degrees or more My
guess would be it's significantly cooler here
and I can hear some water Godfrey this way so I have to
keep my dog with me because now here's some water which would be
a welcome thing where he can maybe cool off Hey Godfrey come
here just because I'm not sure what's up there Mr. Godfrey seen
know on the trail he listens just fine when we stop now he's
at least and I am using a custom made 15 foot leash that my wife
made just for these hikes I don't know if you can hear the
water starting to come up or the sound of the water oh there's a
nice stream where Godfrey this is something heating going so we
will be pausing at least I'll be pausing the trail map so he can
kind of take in this stream where he goes right for it
okay
stream is coming around the bend and then you've got these rock
features over here
which create a little waterfall which I would get a picture of
my dog get out of the way as well as the waterfall
This is what happens when so we normally don't stop for very
long plus I'm on the trail anyway. But at least you had a
place where you could cool off for a bit let's go Godfrey.
People definitely use this for a campsite. Which would be nice, I
suppose. I haven't done any camping. I've toyed around with
the idea of it. I just haven't decided to do it yet. I think
it's a bit more than I want to do at this point
but I am toying around with the idea at least for an overnight
to do something like this right hike up to here camp out and
then you know hike early in the morning
Unknown: campsite camp Playa here's the rest of this river I
think we'll be leaving it I think this might be the only
place where this and this pops up on the trail I don't know
Kevin Bae: when when I'm looking at it it's going off in a
different direction and we're going to be walking
so my dog right now well he stopped maybe because he knows
I'm recording but he was trying to pick up a giant piece of
driftwood for no apparent reason other than he's just doesn't
like to stop at least again that's my theory. He doesn't
like to stop moving he's just moving let's go Godfrey All
right, back on the trail
waiting for GPs to resume my hike
and we're off Okay, so if you want to continue this trail you
will have to cross this water so this is something you're gonna
have to walk across there's no no bridge no log no not nothing.
So I have waterproof shoes but they're not waterproof up to my
ankle.
Unknown: I can go across with my really wants me to get across
now. Got to get out. Get out of the way. Go go go. Go. Come on.
Kevin Bae: He's in my way. Walking my path. Okay, we only
got a little wet. Not that bad.
Okay, purple goes off to the left. Oh my God for you this
way. Missy, I should probably. So it's the Forest Service road
that goes off to the right after you cross that stream. And then
the purple trail continues off to the left. To the very top of
my foot got wet crossing that stream. Not too bad. There's an
area that veers off. But that's not part of the trail. I'm not
sure where it goes. There's like a sign up at the top of that
thing. Or a signpost there's no more sign. So don't veer off to
the right. Stay to the left. Maybe it's private property. I
think there was some private property around here. All right,
we've come across a muddy portion of the trail. I'm
assuming this area feeds the creek so just be aware that I
got some pretty good spots here full of mud tough to get across
without coming away with a giant mud boot. But you can find Joe
just enough of an area to walk through. You know, I think that
other trail is actually the trail the one where I said don't
go because it veers off to the left and there's no marking
because when I check where I'm at on my map, or my GPS, it
shows me going in a different direction than the trail I want
to be on. So I'm gonna go back To that fork take a good look at
that because I think I was misled I hate when that happens
especially when you get like who quarter mile or so down the
trail. And suddenly you're like, This doesn't look right. You
need to go in a different direction then you got to double
back okay, it's probably something I misunderstood
because the marker is not in the right place the marker should be
on the trail that you're supposed to walk on not right
now the film markers here if you're looking at a picture it's
like I'm talking to somebody here and it should be over here.
So they don't really it doesn't really point to the right place.
Okay, we're on the purple trail and according to the map it goes
off to the right and they put the marker over on the left you
only reason I noticed that is because we kept kind of
mirroring
the creek
and when I looked at the map earlier I didn't see the creek
coming in this direction so and this is to make more sense
anyway it's a smaller trail the other one was obviously part of
the service road so now
we are back on track all right, this part of the trail like I
thought
is back going back uphill again it's another gentle slope I
don't know maybe
30 degree
great I don't know it's not that bad to me maybe 20 I don't know
but it's just dirt and rocks nothing nothing special to to
worry about just backup Hill sucking up air not only because
I'm heading uphill continuously here still Austin how to get
your your body heat up but also the temperature is rising the
higher I get
and you know, I just like to keep trying to keep sort of a
constant pace I don't care from breathing heavy I just like to
continue is my workout for the day. So but also I don't I don't
drink a lot. I carry more than enough water for me and I'm
aware of the any signs of dehydration and stuff. So I'm
not about to let that happen. But like for instance, the only
amount of water I've had other than what I had this morning at
home was a tiny SIP to get the water down the tube of my
bladder the water bladder in my backpack poses in that I haven't
had anything your mileage however may vary
so after a pretty good incline, am I recording after a pretty
good incline? We've got sort of our first glimpse at a more open
sky
I'm about four miles in
I have trouble believing this is only 12 Miles only four miles
when I look at this loop and it doesn't feel doesn't look to me
like we're a quarter of the way through let alone a third
we'll see what happens
can always turn back around. It looks like it's going to be too
long
so the forest canopy kind of closed in on us a little bit
again. And there's this nice, cool breeze, it's coming down,
but we're still going uphill. So that same gradual slope but it's
much cooler, with a little bit of a breeze. Because otherwise
with this humidity, there is nothing that's evaporating off
of my skin
breeze feels great. This is different. It's still forested,
but now it's a little bit thinner and open. You can kind
of see
through the forest a bit
there's my dog, Godfrey got a biting fly on his nose. Hold on.
Wait, wait. Okay, got it. Let's go. I don't know if that was the
top the elevation of we're gonna go up again. But we're heading
down again a little bit which is welcome. I was huffing and
puffing for a little bit, actually had to take my first
drink. Right around half a mile back just before the five mile
mark. And I'm guessing now looking at this loop and how far
I've gone. That the loop itself is like 12 miles and I don't
think it's including that connector branch from the
parking area. I think that was close to a mile and a half or so
two miles maybe. I don't know. Find out when I get back. But
now we're chugging along making some progress. I've been going
for a while plus I took like a quarter mile. Wrong Turn. So I
guess that has to factor in so I'm about five miles in right
now. Not too bad. been hiking for almost two hours Oh,
definitely heading back up hill. I didn't check what elevation
we're at. But still not this was a steeper grade. I'm just past
five and a half miles, maybe six miles. Well, after that brief,
uphill slog back to some more level ground. Kinda like doing
intervals on a Stairmaster take a break and press on. And the
brakes are Flatland. That's all. So I'm pretty high up here now a
couple 1000 feet elevation. I can see him on the trail I'm
looking down sort of a ravine off to my left. Remember, it's
because I am going counterclockwise. And I think
this would be a spectacular view. If this was in the fall
with early spring before the leaves fill in because you
really can't see anything through the trees.
Unfortunately, but we're pretty high up
apparently a lot of mountain bikers use this trail. I haven't
seen these tracks further down, but I see a lot of them up here.
I'm almost halfway through the loop is locked by tracks. So if
you have your dog beware. Keep them close by so you can make
sure there are no accidents.
I think I'm at the point where I know why they call this hard.
You turn some of these corners and you're met with an incline
Are you looking at and just like oh crap, another one when you
thought you're at the highest point. But
the plus side is you always feel better once you get to the top.
Regardless of what that top is. At least that's what I keep
telling myself.
Still going uphill I'm hoping this is the final ascent. I'm at
about six and a half miles more I started, roundabouts keep
pushing
I've reached what I think is the top map it looks close to the
halfway point. But there's like a clearing here. That looks like
the perfect place to kind of take a break. Take a drink. Good
to come control of my dog. Here's the clearing. is usually
starts crying because you'd want to stop. But we will take a
break so we are back on the move after maybe a five or 10 minute
rest. Got some water for both me and the dog. And now we're going
to continue on and finish this trail. refreshed. Maybe I can
hear more water
as we start to
head downhill now. Hopefully there's another water feature.
So Godfrey can cool off because he was resting pretty good up
there at the top of the hill. For once, I think he was tired
enough where he wasn't acting like a crazy dog. But a little
bit of water would be nice. See we're heading downhill
you can see it if you're looking at the pictures
he hears the water and he wants to go down there. But I don't
see it yet, so I can't let him go I gotta pay attention. There
is a tiny stream. Little tiny waterfall very relaxing This
one's much easier to cross. It's very trickling stream here.
So the true midway point of this trail is where you have to cross
that stream, there's a sharp turn in the trail, you cross the
stream a sharp turn, then you cross that same stream again.
That's the true midpoint. That's a pretty good place to rest to
but I wasn't sure exactly where it was going to be. And my dog
looked like he really needed a rest and so did I because that
last hill was pretty was pretty intense. So I didn't see any
harm if I didn't reach the midpoint. Or if I had to go a
little bit up further a hill to reach that midpoint. It wouldn't
have been a big deal. But that's the actual midpoint there and I
think if I do this trail again, that's where I'll stop because
it's really peaceful there with the stream. Plus the dog can get
a drink and go wait in the water and cool off
but now we're back on the way down
it looks at least this section looks much easier than the other
side. Since I'm going counterclockwise I'm not sure
how most people do it but I like I prefer to go counterclockwise
for some reason this side is way more muddy and there's way more
water on it and the other side at least just leaving the
midpoint
don't mind water don't like mud so much walking through a grove
of I don't know what kind of trees these are what kind of
tree these are but they they have these long skinny leaves I
see them all the time walking these trails in Georgia they
don't have these trees in Chicago or anywhere in Northern
Illinois that I know of. I gotta try to look this up when you to
get back crossing another tiny stream none of these at least on
this side are deep at all they're just really little
babbling brooks
if you like walking through some heavy woods I mean this is a
perfect trail because it's empty you don't see anybody it's quiet
there aren't a whole lot of like if you're looking for views you
know down the mountain at least there's nothing here in URL and
late spring with all this all the leaves on the trees you
can't see anything down the hill but the the actual trail path
and the forest itself is fantastic
I'm just gonna pause and see if you can hear that bird
and that my dog but that bird
there's an owl flying through the forest, I can't get a video
or pictures he took off too fast. I've never seen an owl
that up close before. They're, they're huge now the one danger
I've always found when hiking 10 Miles 10 Miles plus in the
woods. You know I do occasionally you know, five, six
miles. But when you're when you get up above that and you're
doing 10 miles depending on the trail to
on the way down, you're tired. So you need to concentrate on
picking up your feet. Because if you don't you end up tripping
over rocks and roots and, and stuff. So you just kind of have
to make a conscious effort no matter how tired you are. Just
to keep that pace and the cadence in your walk. At least
that's what I tell myself because I start to get tired I
noticed sometimes I just hit the top of a rock and say okay,
that's a perfect way to trip over yourself and land right on
your face. And you don't want to do that because that hurts. So
just keep picking your knees up. Don't drag your feet coming up
to small water so apparently that's where all the water is on
this hike on the second half if you're going counterclockwise if
you're going clockwise you'll get all the water in the front
but there won't be much on the way back was really quite nice
This stretches a bit muddy because apparently this entire
part drains towards that creek
and it's pretty crappy.
I'm walking through another grove of these trees that I
tried to describe earlier but really can't. Yeah, if you're
listening to this and I put it in I made a podcasted this image
of the leaves and other Grove will show up in a compatible
app, but it feels for me because of where I'm from you don't
really see this and they kind of crowd the the trail It feels
very What do you call it? Like prehistoric. We just feel like
you've walked into like a Jurassic Park kind of place I'm
sure it's some common stupid tree out here that everybody
knows it's really kind of a beautiful part of the forest
here where the undergrowth isn't that thick so you can kind of
see through into the canyon little stream running down
through there
and this is kind of a open part as well of the trail where it's
a little bit wider a little bit more light coming through but
still not an open sky so it's not sunny and hot at all.
Although still a little muddy some spots been another tiny
little stream babbling brook Hey Godfrey
if you take a little break in the stream the water is nice and
cold sometimes I'm taking these pictures and they don't seem
like the same picture. But I don't know. They're obviously
have different scenes but maybe I'm just attracted to the same
scene sometimes abandon the trail and a slight opening of
the canopy provides just that kind of I don't know. Looks cool
kind of moment. Nothing spectacular really we just I
don't know cool part of the trail. Here's a weird clearing I
saw this picture online
there's this old truck
just buried in the dirt here wonder where this truck came
from
what kind of truck it is any labels or anything? Cool. You
know, I know I have a good bug spray when I can hear the
mosquitoes buzzing around my head but they never touch me.
It's like the old commercial fur off where the guy is sitting in
a tent full of mosquitoes. And they're all buzzing everywhere
but none of them touch them. So on the second half of the trail
going in the direction I'm going again counterclockwise. It's not
all downhill there are some young you will head downhill and
then there are some stretches where you go back up. But it's
not as steep. It seems to me as the other side. So it's still
you know, it's a little tiring when you look at it and you're
like, crap, I thought I was almost done. And then you see a
hill but they're not as steep as the other side and I If you've
already taken a break, you should be okay. One mistake I
made in this hike is not using a second phone for my hiking
tracker. It's the first long hike, I've taken like this with
my phone and used it as an act of tracker to track the route
and how fast I'm going and all that kind of stuff. And it's, I
brought an extra battery, but it's kind of a pain in the ass
to take a break and plug it in its phones down to 28% started
100 You know, so next time I have an extra phone, I can just
bring that, download the map, use that for the tracking and
save my phone for the pictures and all the other stuff, they
probably would never have to plug it in. You know, some some
people like going downhill versus going uphill. Because
uphill, obviously is difficult. But downhill isn't necessarily
any easier to me it takes a bigger toll on on my feet and my
hips. Maybe I'm just too old, 55 years old, but going down a
steep grade I feel it in my feet. And then I guess hips to
keep stability as you're walking down to make sure you're not
going down too fast. Going up, you know it's in the knees, and
the quads really, for me. But you know, I don't feel the same
fatigue in my feet. Only notice I only really notice it when I'm
taking these longer hikes. The shorter ones, they don't really
bother me at all. If I'm going maybe five miles or so. None of
it either going up or going down bothers me. But something you
know along the lines of 10 Miles plus that's when I can start
feeling the a little bit of fatigue in in my hips a little
bit. And in particular, my feet in my toes going down. I used to
have problems with my knees. But I learned the hard way on that
one. So now I wear like compression sleeves on my knees.
Because of one hike I took in Salt Lake City. I was hiking
grand your peak and I had no problem going up and I didn't
realize what was happening. I was building up fluid in my
knees. So then when I started coming back down off the
mountain suddenly my knees really couldn't support my
weight going down. And I almost couldn't walk I had to take so
many breaks, it took me twice as long to get down as it did to go
up. Because just because I had takes many breaks because my
knees were so painful. And then the rest of that day I could
barely walk. You know it really felt felt bad to stand up and
move. So ever since then I wear these compression sleeves on my
knees and I can walk for you know 10 Miles 12 Miles sometimes
15 miles and my knees don't bother me at least you know
going extended miles all in one trip still fatigues my you know
my hips a little bit and my toe and my toes my toes in
particular
and just when I finished talking about going down versus going up
at a massive incline so gives my toes a break and I guess it's
going up now that I think about it's more more the glutes, your
ass. And the quads although they are involved too.
And hikes like this that are just straight up hikes. You're
just walking through the woods. You're not really stopping at
any view or site. I mean, you stop you're in there and look at
stuff but it's not like yeah, hiking to a destination per se
you're just hiking to hike. Sometimes if you're trying to do
a loop like this, you know you you get into it. And you start
wondering if you bit off more than you can chew. It's too far.
You know, you don't run on want to run out of water. So you got
to be careful there But then, you know, you start to get
towards the goal of finishing it. And you start getting that
feeling of satisfaction like yeah, if I just push through the
hard parts, then I can finish it off. So the way I the way I
approach it is, I mean I, if I'm going to commit to go, I go,
doesn't matter what I feel like. And as I'm hiking, like you get
into some of these hills where you turn a corner, and suddenly
there's an incline, like a normal day, you be like, am I
gonna go up that incline. But you know, you set out to do this
hike. So what I do is I just take one step at a time, and I
don't even bother looking all the way up the hill, I just look
at the steps in front of me, I can always take the next step.
You sometimes you look up at the top of that hill anyway, I don't
want to, I don't want to, I don't know walk up that thing.
It's too high, it's too far I'm tired. Just look at the steps in
front of you. That when you can do just one more step. That's at
least the way I approach it all the time. Okay, we've come to
the end of the loop, at least the loop part of it. So it shows
that I only went 11.3 miles the tracker
we're following the purple trails and I'm heading back
towards the trail that leads to the parking area. Right back
that way. To my right, since I'm going counterclockwise, and you
can hear my dog crying because he just wants to keep moving.
He's an endless ball of energy. Seven year old labs are not
supposed to be this energetic anymore. So as I'm winding down
this particular trail Wow, that is a really long caterpillar
that I have never seen before. And that wasn't the purpose for
me turning this thing back on and recording. But take a
picture of it as I was saying, some winding down as part of
this trail. We're finishing up this last bit before we get to
the car. You know, people wonder why I go do this. And for me, I
have difficulty shutting off my mind. Always thinking something
some problem, some stupid issue. And these days, there's so much
happening in the world. All I have to do is concentrate on the
next step. So there's just the sound of my feet, the forest,
birds, the bugs, my dog panting and really just kind of just
worrying about the next step. I don't want to think about
anything else, I have to concentrate on where I'm at. And
it kind of keeps me focused. So it's sort of like a it's
cathartic in a way. And it prevents my mind from racing
from one thing to the next. Just kind of keeps things calm down.
So I try to do this as much as I can. Especially now that we
moved to Georgia, and I have access to all these trails that
I never had before. But anyway, that's that's why I do it. Now
we made it back to the Forest Service road. And the two of us
are dog tired. He's literally a dog tired. I am dog tired. But
it was very good hike. I think we still have maybe half a mile
to go get to the parking area. It was more strenuous than I
thought it was going to be. So it definitely earned the hard
rating. If just because of the length And the inclines did make
it difficult. So I guess trail wise though it's really not that
bad. It's not that hard of a trail to walk, you're not
climbing over anything. This just the sheer length of it and
in the inclines, now if you're camping and you take like six
miles and you go up, up near the top halfway point, and then trek
down, that's more strenuous than I thought I was going to be, but
got free, no get out of there. Really good hike all the way
around as I get my dog away from horse poop brings us to the end
of that hike. Like I said, I hope the next one I post I'm not
sure exactly when it's going to be except to actually go on the
hike. But I'm going to try to make it shorter. I've got an
idea for how I want to do it format wise so get things down
to maybe 30 minutes max. But hope you like the sites or sites
in the zone sites if you're watching kind of podcasts and
2.0 compatible app and sounds if you're listening next time
bye bye