Sunday Thoughts

+It never fails that this time of year I get wistful for the Appalachian Trail. I didn’t really follow any hikes last year, but I’ve got a couple I’m keeping an eye on this year.
+Renee Tougas and her family of five just recently started the trail. I’m particularly interested in seeing how their hike goes as a family. It also looks like they may have started just late enough to not deal with a lot of snow.
+Then there’s Wired who is working on finishing the Triple Crown by September by hiking the AT.
+Chris’ mom has an aquaintance hiking the trail as well. I’m a little concerned about them as they seem to be going very slow. There’s no problem with going slow at first as long as the miles are upped eventually. Sometimes slow mileage can be a mental barrier too, especially when everyone starts passing you and then you get caught in the ‘Am I going to make it to Katahdin by October?’ problem.

+On the PCT side of things I know of two couples we hiked with/around on the AT who are heading out and then another blogger I’ve never met but have been following her hiking adventures in Georgia for awhile now. Oh, and wait, one more, a girl I followed as she hiked the FT this winter. Lots of PCT hikers, then!
+Acorn is hitting up the PCT after she hiked the AT last year and the FT this winter.
+Sideways D and Moonshine are one of the two couples we know from the AT.
+Dormouse and Dirt Stew are the other couple we know from the AT.
+Joan/Rambling Hemlock who I’ve mentioned before, is hiking with her friend.

+Lots of hikers…I’m doing good if I can walk a mile without having to pee these days. Thanks baby Teddy for that!

+Chris and I ventured to Angelina National Forest yesterday for a short walk. I wouldn’t call it a hike, it was more a leisurely stroll through the woods on the Sawmill Trail along Boykin Creek. The dogwoods were in full bloom and most of the azaleas (R. canescens) were blooming like crazy. Chris took his camera and got a lot of wonderful shots along the stream. I left my camera at home so that I could just enjoy being outside. Of course I kind of wished I had even a point and shoot after seeing everything in bloom. I also got to see many American fringe trees in bloom, something I haven’t actually seen before. They are really pretty and I wish we had more room for trees around here now.

+While Chris took pictures I spread out on the ground to relax and rest. I love laying right down on the forest floor and looking up at the canopy. At one point I was under a brilliantly green beech tree. I wish people wouldn’t carve into beech trees, most of the ones along the path had names etched into them.

+Our purpose for heading to east Texas was to attend the Mast Arboretum plant sale. A year ago Chris and I attended the Urban Harvest fruit tree sale in Houston. This plant sale was not nearly as crazy as that plant sale, but prior to the 9am opening everyone can wander around the alphabetically organized plants to scope out where everything is. Then everyone lines up with their wagons along the driveway into the property and waits for the countdown. It was pretty much mayhem! One lady tried to cut across my arm that was attached to my wagon which caused my wagon to tip over and me to frustratingly have to waste 5 precious seconds for me to get to an uncommon Crataegus species we wanted. We were kind of surprised at which plants went really fast and which ones didn’t—And then everyone grabbing all of these common plants you can get at a big box store or even a local nursery. Ooh, here’s the video I think Chris was telling me about…the video doesn’t take place where the sale this year took place, but you can see the starting line type rush: SFA plant sale

+Today we’re just waiting on all of this rain that’s supposed to arrive. I’m going to bake, catch up on writing some blogs, and then work on editing my book quite a bit this afternoon.