Wednesdays are for Walking (plus a little bird)

Two weeks ago I joined the Seattle Parks & Recreation weekly walk at Carkeek Park.  Normally I prefer to walk on level ground, and can do so for quite a few miles, but I decided it might be good to try hills for better aerobic fitness.

Well, Carkeek Park has a LOT of hills.  The walk leader has many different routes along the trails and they all go up and down at many points.  He has easy, medium, and hard routes worked out that are all between 3 and 3-1/2 miles, done in 90 minutes with a bathroom break in the middle.  A regular group of around 25 folks has been coming on these walks for many years.

Last week on my first outing with the group, the leader chose a medium-difficulty route and I survived.  On my second outing this week, he chose the hardest route of the lot -- up the highest hill in the park with the longest climb.  I barely made it.  Thank goodness we are rewarded for our efforts by views like this:

Here we are hiking up the highest hill.  Up and up and up and up.....

And here we are  hiking back down and down and down.  It was challenging (especially as the last stretch of trail back to our parking lot is uphill) but I was pleased that I kept up with the 70- and 80-year-olds and was not the last one to finish.

The walks happen every Wednesday, rain or shine.  It's a good group of people with several that I've had fun chatting with along the way, and I plan to keep it up.

Meanwhile, back at the house, a Red-breasted Nuthatch visited my Douglas Fir that same Wednesday afternoon.

That's all for this past week's adventures.  Happy Friday!