I had no Idea How Really Badly I Needed This!

Usually when I do my weekly hike, I work for as many hours the same day.

Been a long time that most of a day was spent in a fun way.

Got up this morning and was stressing a bit about how and where to do my weekly hike for my Spirit Renewing Hikes blog and my commitment to myself for health and writing. The snow on the ground seemed a bit daunting, but the sun was coming out, and kn0wing there was a cold front on the way, I thought about some options.

Option 1: Just do my errands in town on foot. Go to the Post Office to mail a FantaFaces mask and then continue on to City Hall where I need to pay for some Festival permits. I thought about exploring the creek walks that start at City Hall and go past the Chamber. An urban trail that I have never been on yet.

Option 2: Get in my car and go to a nearby Park and hike in the sunshine alone. But I know I will be doing some of the close hikes in the future when the area is prettier, or if the weather is really bad for a full week.

Option 3: Call my hiking buddy and see if she was up for a hike somewhere today.

No answer, but I did leave a message with why I had called and time deadline to call me back. Moments later my phone rang and she was really ready to go for a hike today. She had actually asked in her mediation for spirit to just show up and take her somewhere beautiful today.

After considering a few options, some I had considered for my alone hike. I suggested we go to Cheyenne Mountain State Park and check it out. Neither us had ever been there, partially we hate paying a fee to hike. But she was excited by the adventure and we were pretty sure it would have some sunny trails.

I decided I needed to mail the FantaFaces Mask before I went, so dashed to the Post Office and did that. It was a good thing too, because we got done with the hike too late for me to have done it afterwards.

We met up and took just one car and headed south on Nevada Ave. and found the park. A beautiful Visitor Center with a very helpful person working there was a good beginning. They had a free map that showed many trails and she explained there were markers and maps all along the trails to guide us.

Many of you know of Cheyenne Mountain as it is where NORAD is housed and recently they tracked Santa Claus on his Christmas journey.

The sun hid most of the day. But it was still quite warm. We each removed one layer of jackets even before starting out on the trails.

The only part of the hike we didn’t enjoy too much was that we could hear the gunfire from soldiers training at Fort Carson most of the time. And some of the trail faced the highway so had traffic noise on those sections. Still we found places to stand or sit and just BE.

Some places were icy and snowy and others were very muddy and our hiking boots gained about 5 pounds, or so it felt, as we slogged through those areas.

The clouds today were very fun. So many different shapes and forms presented themselves above us. Blue sky would peek out or take charge of the sky at different times during the hike. Yet at times it was the perfect grey cast for taking some wonderful photos.

Other than that, it was wonderful hike and we want to come back and do some of the other trails when it is springtime and summer when flowers are blooming and trees are covered in leaves.

When I got home, fixed some salmon I had defrosted and a baked potato for dinner, with a bit of Tequila to relax with into the evening.

Yes, I checked emails and am writing my two posts. But otherwise have done very little other than enjoy my time in Nature with a great hiking companion and plan on going to get to bed early. And I have to admit playing with my photos and writing is also fun, so not really working even now.

As I hiked today, I had no sense of wanting to hurry at all. I just wanted to be in the present moment and enjoy a day far from my computer. And see the world with my “camera eye” to capture the beauty surrounding me.

I mean most people take weekends off! Somehow I have gotten into the habit of working 7 days a week which is not really a healthy approach to life. I really needed a day off to just play and relax, and am scheming how to do more in the coming weeks. And my hiking companion today is all up for adventures, so discussed some ideas on our way back to my car and she was excited about them all.

I’ll just have to catch up with my business in the morning . . . after a good night sleep . . .