Rain, Rain, Never Came
Posted in Boots are Made for Walkin on June 11th, 2007 by Erin DietrichSometimes life doesn’t turn out the way we plan. In fact, when it comes to walking it very rarely turns out the way Jenny and I imagine. So one must wonder, why am I always so surprised when things go haywire?
This past week Jenny and I dedicated the week to finishing at least two state trails. Well, we finished two; they just were not the ones originally planned. Things started well enough with the completion of the Gitchi Gami Trail. It was during the second trail, the Willard Munger Trail, which we stumbled. The first day of this 70 mile/113 km trail the plan was to walk 15-miles/24 km. This was aggressive considering this was the fourth straight day of long walking, but we were determined. However when the trail wasn’t going as quickly as expected, a quick look at the map exposed my miscalculations (whoops!), and instead we were walking 18 miles/29 km. An additional 3 miles/5 km may not seem like much, but with aching feet, it is a huge difference. We didn’t have the option to stop early because the car was waiting at the trail end and where we were there are no taxis or friends to call to come pick us up.
At the end of the day the first section of the trail was finished on hurting, swollen feet and with muscles so stiff neither of us could touch our toes. However, we were still determined to stick with the plan (because it was the plan after all…) and walk another 16 miles/26 km the following day. Well, sometimes determination just isn’t enough. Or maybe, sometimes blind determination requires outside forces to slow you down. That’s what happened in this case.
The next day I woke up in time to watch Jenny oh-so-gingerly climb out of her tent while uncharacteristically muttering things that could make the proverbial sailor blush. While lacing up our walking shoes a man approached us. He had the look of someone who was going to warn us that the sky was falling, and I can’t imagine my expression when he did. Okay, maybe that is extreme, but he did tell us golf-ball sized hail and 60 mph winds were on the way. Being trapped midway on a trail pelted by hail was not an adventure either Jenny or I were interested in making memories of. While I quickly packed up camp Jenny sweet-talked the state park ranger into giving us our money back for the unused days of camping.
The skies were dark and cloudy, the winds high and a light rain followed the cars as we drove home. The radio continued to forecast horrible storms; storm warnings sounded in small towns, tornadoes were spotted for the next three days. Funny enough, the next three days were beautiful - the sky was blue, the temperature pleasant and there was a nice steady breeze. Storm? Nope. Perfect walking weather? Of course. But we were waiting it out…
Finally tired of waiting for the sky to fall we finished up the Sakatah Trail. This was the trail that has given us so many troubles in the past. This time though we finished the last 18 miles/29 km like champs thanks to well rested muscles and clear heads. The sheer determination to finish the Willard Munger Trail could have spelled disaster, even with perfect weather. We were tired, had open blisters and our muscles were in pain. The three days of rest while we waited the threatening storms out were crucial. However, our determination would not have let us see this. So a lesson to remember, determination is important, but one must always be willing to make concessions. There will always be another day.
