Dome Rock

OK, this entry has nothing to do with horses. But still, I wanted to blog about it. It was a great day where I pushed myself to extremes more than I have in a while and I get such a rush out of extreme physical challenges.

We drove to Dome Rock to hike the loop. It's such a long drive, but worth it. We arrived around 2:30 and hit the trail 1o mins later. We started up Willow Creek trail, which is a long 1-2 mile section climbing nearly 1300 ft in elevation. Whew! Actually, I'm not in that bad of shape and I can hike this incline just fine. It feels good and makes me remember the days of great fitness before horses. Since horses, my physical fitness has waned. Horsebackriding is not great exercise - I don't care what anyone says. I know what great exercise is and it doesn't happen on the back of a horse.

Anyway, unfortunately I steer us down Sand Creek Trail when we should have gone down another trail that starts with an "S" just a 1/2 mile further. At the end of Sand Creek, I realize we're not where I wanted us to be. However, it's easy to take Dome Rock Trail to the southwest and get to Dome Rock. A blunder, but one that's easy to recover from.

We have to do all the switching back and forth across the creek which gets Steve in a bad mood. He's funny as hell when he gets grumpy and I tried hard not to laugh, but still had some out loud giggle moments. He doesn't like it when his feet get wet. At one point, he takes his shoes and socks off to keep them dry and crosses the river. This is where his grumbling peaks. Apparently, he feels the need to hurry his feet back in socks and shoes and his feet aren't yet dry so now his socks are a little wet and... how can I not laugh at him? I gather my composure and we keep going.

We get to the point where we can see Dome Rock and he's extremely under impressed. I should have known. To him, it's a big rock. To me, it's nature saying "I can do ANYTHING!". I love it. He thinks I'm dumb. Oh well. It gives him a little time to get his feet more dry by ripping off his socks and shoes and soaking up some sun.

Then, we head back. It's another 4 miles to our car and my hip flexors are starting to get angry. I feel pretty good except for my hip flexors. I try to walk in a way that stretches them, but to no avail. This the challenge I like. The physical challenge of my body going "WTF?" and my brain saying "Keep going!". I haven't pushed myself like this in years and I'm having a blast.

I was pretty damn happy to see the parking lot, I have to admit. I woke up this morning with an afterglow of our hike. We hiked 11-12 miles (Tia, stop forgetting your damn GPS!) and went up and down over 1300 ft of elevation. We saw wildlife and even got the chance to herd some cattle. Cows on the trail, you say? I have no idea, but they were on the trail and in our way. I have video and pics of that as evidence.

Steve and I had some great conversation and I thoroughly enjoyed his company. I'd do it again in a New York minute. Next time, with horses. And my GPS.