(written on the 16th)
With my goal to make the crazy climb up Mount Earnslaw Burn track tomorrow, there wasn’t really much on the docket to do today.
I’d already driven the roads I wanted to go up. I didn’t want to hike to see other beautiful vistas, because I didn’t want to use up energy I’ll really want for the 20 miler tomorrow. I didn’t want to hang out in town because… it’s town 🙃, unless I heard back from a friend, which I haven’t (I’m gonna guess that since she hasn’t replied to me, having known for a while I was on my way , that she’s not really interested in meeting up, so… hurts a little. …pretty normal for me, though.).
Since there was nothing planned and seemingly nothing local to do, after snapping a picture of the sunrise,
I pulled over at a nice little empty gravel picnic area right on the waterfront, to enjoy the view while figuring things out.
I really only had a few actions I needed to be sure I executed effectively in preparation for tomorrow:
- Rest well
- Eat well
- Hydrate properly
I had veged out a fair bit last night, and I had to be out of the parking lot by 8:00 a.m., so resting well was doubly important, and without effective pre-trip nutrition and hydration, I was risking exhaustion and my body flipping that migraine switch and keeping me down, potentially for days.
The weather was looking positive for the hike tomorrow, and I figured it would be best to start the hike around 7:00 in the morning, just after the rain was supposed to stop, which would put me at that spectacular spot somewhere around noon, which would give me at least a few hours to just sit down and enjoy the view, something I didn’t do last time (having continued to explore at fever pace instead of just soaking in the grandeur of it all. Not a Stephen thing to do at all, of course. 🙃).
Well… I failed on all three counts. 😶
I ended up sitting there in my van for the next… probably 8 hours? 10 hours? Maybe a few hours in one spot, and then moving over to a little bluff when “my” spot started to get crowded.
Eating very little, I think. Drinking almost nothing, and coming to the end of the day already on the edge of pre-migrain paradise. 😬
And with a dead battery. 😅
I’m a genius.
I got myself jump started, took pictures of the later evening sun (not necessarily in that order)
and drove back to Chinaman’s Bluff for another night.
Wow. That was exactly what I wasn’t supposed to do today. Good gravy.
Pre-migraining tonight because of poor nutrition and hydration is pretty much a death sentence for tomorrow’s planned adventure.
I stayed here longer just to have good weather for this hike, one that provides a view that’s in my top tier of most memorable vistas I’ve ever seen, and I can’t even pay attention well enough to take care of myself on a day that’s this important to have done so?
[sigh]
😕
I was texting my sister Heather a little bit about it. Probably not smart at all to try the hike tomorrow and risk migraining for days.
I was supposed to be hiking on the other side of this tomorrow (the view near my parking spot at Chinaman’s Bluff)
Guess, I’ll probably just vege out tonight and head out of the area in the morning.
😕
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 