Well it’s been a fun week so far. I went and got some new hiking shoes. Of course I bought them and then realized that they’re probably not the best shoe for my type of hiking. They’re more suited to staying on the trail. So I’ve decided to use them for hikes where I am not sloshing through mud pits and stuff. This works out well because now I can use the old ones for my mud hunting adventures and don’t have to worry so much about keeping them overly clean.
But yeah, there’s a few issues with this approach. Most notably are the gaping holes in the side of the shoes which make for soggy feet. The second problem, less obvious but more troubling, is that the soles are pretty much worn out and when I’m carrying 15 lb of stuff on my back the extra weight on those worn out soles makes for really sore feet. By the time I walk 3 or 4 km (my typical hikes are 6-8 km long, and much of that is spent navigating the messy forest), my feet hurt and the resulting fatigue makes exploring even more difficult.
The Season (Finally) Has Arrived!
Despite the muscular difficulties, I did find a couple spots to get dirty in. One is beside a creek and is nice and mushy but full of sticks and roots… The other is right in the middle of a rocky trail, and I spent more time removing rocks and sticks than I did actually playing. But hey, I’m not going to complain because I am finally getting my feet dirty and it’s feeling great.
I spent quite a while exploring a pretty big soggy area. There’s two spots I had marked out on my GPS and I was able to reach them both, while encountering a few mushy spots along a creek. I even made it to the power line trail although I was too tired to climb the hills to reach the other mushy sections of that trail. Despite this, I did find some nice places to play around in. Since the water levels are dropping everywhere, I expect another week or two and I’ll have a nice muddy bank to enjoy.
I’m excited to return to this area again in a week or two. The hike is a little longer than it was to reach the spots I used last year, but this new area has an abundance of muddy creeks and mushy banks. And it’s far enough away from trails that I feel pretty confident that I won’t get noticed. The entrance to the area is along a relatively quiet road. In fact, I’ve made three trips there and not once did I encounter a vehicle along the road.
Bug Hell!
OK So the big problem this year seems to be bugs. The blackflies are out in force now. With the extra water pools everywhere, they’re breeding at an insane rate. Mosquitos, too! OMG I couldn’t breath without inhaling a blackfly. I couldn’t get away from the thick cloud of the little fuckers. It certainly made cleanup a nasty unfun chore. I ended up just brushing some mud off, throwing my normal clothes back on and getting the fuck out of there as fast as I could. Thankfully a nice shower when I got home really made my whole day.
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