I made a bit of a miscalculation

[cornerofmadness]

After lab today I decided to take a mental health moment and not grade all the tests and go for a hike since the rain wasn't due in until like 10 pm. I make it to Lake Kathrine at 330 and since the Salt Lake trail I usually walk is 2 miles and I can do it in an hour, I figured Pine Ridge Trail at 2 1/2 miles wouldn't be much. I needed to go there to see the waterfall. I'm like no trouble.


That was no 2.5 miles! Maybe as a crow flies. I should have turned back at the water fall. If I had I wouldn't have walked an hour in the rain. Sigh. Honestly the waterfall was lovely. Some of the trail was pure mud. Others still ice. Others water. Whee. This was up and down and all over and I knew, just KNEW I had gone past the point of no return which meant I had to keep going to circle back (I knew the last leg of the trail because I didn't know these WERE circuits until a few months ago and I've walked the trail pat of the way for years). It was a bit rough going especially when I got to the last leg and there was an inversion in the air. There is a metal plant in town and the WHOLE forest smelled of it. That triggers my asthma.

Still I got pretty pictures (tomorrow on those) and I come home to find out that Salt Creek is only 2 miles on the long loop which is closed. I had only been walking a mile. This was nearly three times as long. Took me two hours. It rained but it was nice.


I saw where a deer fell down. I hate to say it. I laughed so hard I nearly fell down there too. Here have the waterfall on my FB


I did stop at the Mexican restaurant for take out. Sooo good.


and I have a little something for spikesgirl58's challenge You have to use these words in a story
Fascinate
Presidential
Snake
Enthusiasm
Code
Dressing

Harvard was a lot of new things for Malcolm and he was up for them all, well maybe not the presidential welcome. He, like most freshman, had zone out of the welcome ceremony’s speeches. He couldn’t fake enthusiasm for that. His classes, on the other hand, were bound to fascinate him. He’d already gotten intro to psych and bio one out of his way while in high school so he could dive right into this classes. Abnormal psych here he comes!

For the first time in his academic career there was no damn dress code! Granted dressing however he wanted was new to him. He hoped he wasn’t too stuffy, like Jackie said. She and Gil had given him some clothing to go with him, a counterpoint to his mother’s high end offerings. He liked the sapphire blue Henley.

He'd already signed up for the fencing team and for once in his life, he thought about joining a group of kids, maybe not a frat, at least not right away but he was going to be different here. He was Malcolm Bright, not Malcolm Whitly son of a notorious serial killer. This was the fresh start he deserved. No one was going to ruin it like they had at Remington.

Of course, he missed Mom and Ainsley. He missed Gil and Jackie. Heck, he even missed his snakes, which he was pretty sure Mom was getting rid of the first moment she could. Malcolm supposed he couldn’t blame her. Still, no matter who and what he missed, Malcolm was excited. He felt like his life was beginning. Now if only he could keep himself from going home every other weekend, if only he could stop going to Claremont to see his father.

“One step at a time,” he whispered and left his room, eager to see what Harvard would bring.

Comments

[spikedluv]

The hike sounds both lovely and horrible. Did you post the pics and I missed it?

[cornerofmadness]

I did not get the chance before I wiped out

[spikedluv]

Thinking back on the timing of this comment, I can see how that would be the case. o_O