Jingle Hiking

Sunday morning was nice and crispy with temps in the mid-20's and it was a day I went for a stroll on a favorite trail section in Harrison County, Indiana. There was one thing different, however, as this was the last regular day of deer hunting gun season so I wanted to make sure I stayed as safe as I could.

I wore a bright yellow jacket to make sure I could be seen but also added another little accessory to my gear. In some parts of the country some hikers use bells to let any big furry bears know they're in the area so they don't become a breakfast snack. For me it was letting the human factors out there know that I was coming through in my eleven mile jaunt.

About a mile into the hike I did see my one and only deer of the day. This guy had obviously been shot at before because he went racing off at a full 30-35 mph leaving me only a blur to watch as he shot down the valley. I think even the squirrels even decided this was a good day to stay indoors as they hid away too.

The walk was pretty quiet all the way to the shelter. On the way I did hear three gunshots to the northwest but nothing that I would consider close. Of course I was about 3 miles deep into the woods so I didn't really expect to see a lot of people. At the shelter I broke out a couple of turkey and cheese sandwiches which I munched down to ease my pangs and washed them down a good ol' bottle of just plain water. After about a half hour break I was on my way back to the truck. But it would not be the normal walk back.

Just before I got to the shelter I had twisted my knee just enough to give me some twinges I just really didn't want so as I started back I was looking down a lot to watch my footing on a lot of the rocks on the trail. It turns out I was looking down too much and not watching where I was I going. Suddenly things looked different than they were supposed to be and I had this strange feeling I was not where I was supposed to be at all. I finally saw a dead cedar tree that I knew wasn't on the main trail and then realized I had a problem. I walked about another 50 yards and the trail I was on just stopped, no 'T's or curves or anything. It just didn't go on. I knew some people might panic at this point but I knew that would not help me any so I started backtracking from where I had come, which turned out to be a little more than a quarter mile and in this dense area that is too far. Finally I found the spot where I had missed a left turn and was back on the trail. You're not going to believe this but about a half-mile later I did the same thing again, only this time I only had to backtrack a couple hundred feet. After that I decided I needed to forget about my knee and mind where I was going. Actually that helped in more ways than one because the knee didn't bother me as much after that. So I ended up with 11 1/2 miles instead of eleven like I had planned.

That leaves me with 54 to got to hit 400. (I'm not counting that half-mile because I don't like counting stupid mistakes.) As of now I've got 25 days to get it done in. I'm going for 12 this weekend and that will make a dent in it. I will get it done. I'm still planning on a big one on New Year's Eve no matter what is sore or what the weather is....ice, snow, sleet, rain, hail, or just a plain old sunny sky, I'm going to pull it off for a last big show of the year. Then I'll start in all over again next year.