Spring Has Sprung!

I wanted to go somewhere different this week so we headed for the Oak Creek gate so we could hike Bald Hill and Mulkey Trail.  Joe showed me a different way to get to the top of Bald Hill that I hadn't done before.  He got me going in the right direction and then took off to run for a bit.  

The forest on Bald Hill is very different from the Dimple Hill.  This was more leafy trees rather than pine trees.  Everything is getting greener every week that we go out.  It's been fun watching things change week to week.  

I enjoyed the new trail and all the beauty to look at.  I stopped often to take pictures and Bailey, as always, ran and ran and ran.  I was getting closer to the top and I was stopped by two older ladies.  They wanted to know where the trail I was coming up ended up if they went down.  I told them where I had started but did let them know this was my first time on this trail.  My husband had shown me and then took off running.  They both started grinning and asked if he was the man they say with the "very bright pants?"  I laughed and said, "Yep, he's mine."  They told me he was very visible which made me laugh because I have said the exact same thing.  

 View from the top of Bald Hill 

Spring has sprung and things are greener and lots of wild flowers are starting to appear.  They seem so delicate out in the woods.  I love seeing the different flowers this time of year.  

I am fighting a cold and wasn't expecting much in the way of speed.  I did run some parts of the hike but mostly I just kept moving.  I didn't think I would do much more than 4 miles.  Joe had run on ahead again as we headed to Mulkey.  The plan was for him to run to the top and then come back until he found me.  If I decided to head to the car he would catch up with me there.  I decided to see how far I could get before he found me.  I wasn't quite to the lollipop part of the trail where it makes a loop at the top but I was close.  I asked Joe how far it was to the top and he said I had about a 1/2 mile to get to the top.  At this point I wasn't going to turn back when I'm that close to the top so I kept going.  I made it to the top.  Whew, that was a trudge.  I was tired!  Joe kept going around the loop while I walked.  I think he did three additional loops while I did one.  

I started back down the trail and decided to run.  I was slow.  Down can be as hard as up if it is steep. I was being careful because I didn't want to fall down but was moving right along.  Not super fast but considering my cold and the fact that I had already done quite a bit it was respectable.  

I think when you go slower sometimes you get to enjoy the scenery a bit more.  I enjoyed the different kind of forest this week and all the flowers and green.  We didn't get rained on at all.  The rain held off until we had gotten back to Albany, which was nice.  

I love that my husband, who is training for his second Ironman, arranges his workouts so that he can do these hikes with me.  We don't always spend the entire time on the trail together but that is totally okay.  We spend most of it together.  It's never a bad thing to spend time with your best friend.  Lucky me that my best friend is also my hubby!

My friend Wendie posted this meme this morning on her Facebook wall.  I LOVE it!  

I struggled a lot the last year but I kept moving forward.  Glad I can finally see what an accomplishment that is and be proud of myself.  

Two weeks until I am done with grad school.  Can't believe it's almost here!!  I'm so ready to be done!!!  This week is my Spring Break and I'm have a small amount of homework (comparatively) so it will be nice to relax a bit and get caught up on some things and rest.  

We are planning to try out a new hike in the Cascades next weekend.  Hoping for spectacular pictures, the view is supposed to be amazing.