Musings on Urban Hike #4 (or A Lone Saturday in the Rain)

Along Prospect Park West

I woke up stiff and exhausted this morning.  And I’m still feeling drowsy after 10 hours of sleep and 2 cups of coffee.  I’m guessing that’s because I hiked my longest hike with pack weight so far yesterday afternoon.  Almost 10 1/2 miles.  In the rain and over the snowy/slippery/slushy conditions of Prospect Park.  Sans hiking partner this time — not that I can blame anyone for not wanting to come with — it was pretty narsty out there.  Today on the other hand, is beautiful.  It’s sunny and a balmy 44º.  Why didn’t I wait for today?  Because I know it’s gonna rain out there on the trail, and probably at times for many days in a row.  I figured I needed the practice in the bad weather conditions.

Throughout the walk, I knew I had the sanctuary of a warm, 4th floor walk-up apartment with hot chocolate, red wine and a cozy couch with https://sdarcwellness.com/online-therapy/ cuddly kitties (& fiance) to come home to…I couldn’t help but think about the impending reality that soon, it’ll be a 20º sleeping bag, sleeping pad, nylon tent walls or a wooden shelter and hungry mice (&/or bears) looking for crumbs that I’ll be coming home to.  It’s a recurring theme I seem to be experiencing — thinking about the utter differences between my daily city life and soon to be daily camping life.  But I remind myself that it’s kind of the point.  To get away from the hustle of commuting, shopping, bill paying, laundry doing, apartment cleaning, organizing, doing taxes….  My camping life will consist of just the basics of survival — food and shelter.  With some walking in between.  With my mind free of all the chores, I wonder if I’ll approach some zen-like state of being?

Judging by how tired I was last night though, I imagine that I might just spend a lot of time sleeping.