Remembering Chain Lakes

From 2014

 My workout today was indoors, at the Y. My fellow Senior Trailblazers are hiking the Chain Lakes loop today that I love so much. I'm not sure if I will ever be able to hike it again, but I went back and looked at pictures of the the more than dozen times I've hiked it in previous years. This one I chose from my collections because I'm in it, the fifth from the front. This one, taken in August 2014, shows that most of the hikers from days past are no longer hiking. I guess I need to be willing to put myself in that category, too. But some holdouts, like Al and a few others, are still going strong.

This picture was taken almost at the top of Herman Saddle, a long uphill slog that is brutal in full sun and hot temperatures, like it is today. Last year we didn't do any group hikes such as this because of the pandemic, but the two years that I hiked it before were strong indicators of how much I've slowed down. I was not willing to subject myself to it again today, not to mention that my ankle is still not a hundred percent better from the bad sprain I endured a month ago. 

So, I had my first workout at the Y since it has partially opened to its customers. I took the bus to town, went to the coffee shop as usual, and headed up to the front doors of the Y, with my pass still intact and working, and headed up to the room with the exercise bike I used faithfully before the shutdown. I had forgotten all the settings I had grown accustomed to, but once I got the hang of it, it was really nice to be able to work up a good sweat with an old friend. And then I went over to the treadmill and walked on it for awhile. My speed is much slower than it was when I stopped using it before.

I ran into a few familiar faces, people who came back into the gym long before I was willing to. I did try it once, but it was a little scary. Now that I'm fully vaccinated and have been for awhile, I was happy to get reacquainted with the way the gym is today. All the machines are now spread out, and there were very few people to contend with. I did ask, when I entered, if I would need to wear my mask, and the attendant told me no... for now. That may change if this Covid variant takes hold in our community. So far we are doing okay, but I've started wearing my masks again inside grocery stores, even if they aren't required any more. Apparently even fully vaccinated people can carry the virus and infect others. It's a small risk right now, but we all thought we were done with this awful virus. Not quite yet.

Since I might not be doing hard hikes any more, I need to rethink my Thursday blog posts and figure out where to go from here. I had gotten used to only posting twice a week on DJan-ity, with the Thursday post dedicated to the Senior Trailblazers. Now I'm casting about for what I might do in the future. I will still write on my other blog on Sunday mornings, but this blog needs a facelift. I'll think on it and see what I might come up with. Anybody got any ideas?

Until then, I'll keep hoping that suddenly I'll wake up ten years younger and filled with vim and vigor. Or at least I can see if I can hold on for another year or so and hike when it's not so hot.

:-)