It had been in the mid-90’s for days, and this week’s upcoming forecast was going to be more of the same–hot! It’s been really hard to get a walk in the extreme heat, so I came up with a challenge for the week, which I proposed to Debbie on Sunday. I suggested that we take turns Monday-Friday, planning and surprising the other with different walking locations. The rules–shade after 5:00 p.m., and we needed to walk a minimum of 2 miles (which would also fulfill my ongoing Camino Coronavirus Walking Challenge). She accepted and we had a great week!
Monday–Debbie opted to go first and we headed to the Hagerstown City Park, which is located in Hagerstown, M.D. We’d both been there before, but it had been a long time since our last visit. It was still hot, but there was a cool breeze and we were in the shade for the majority of the time. The park is home to many types of water foul, including swans and several varieties of ducks and geese.
Tuesday–I picked Spruce Pine Hollow Trail for my ‘shade walk.’ Debbie had never been here before, which surprised me, because it’s so close to where we live. It was shady which kept the sun from beating down on our heads, but it was hot & HUMID! The best part of this hike was that it was a NOHOT, which in my lingo means: No Humans on Trail! As you can probably tell by the exclamation marks, this is my favorite kind of hiking!
Wednesday–It was Debbie’s turn again and she took us to the Yankauer Nature Preserve. The back end of the Preserve is situated high on the banks of the Potomac River, offering a nice overlook. Again, we enjoyed another shady location, and we scored another NOHOT!
Thursday–It was my turn again, but we had previously made plans for the day, including a road trip to Debbie’s favorite liquor store in PA (Yes, it’s true, she has a fav! LOL!), and lunch with my sister, Missy. On the way home, we stopped in Williamsport, M.D., so we could meet the requirements of the week—walking in shade!
Friday–Debbie opted to stay local for today’s walk and she took me to Poor House Farm. We’ve been here many, many times over the years, but today offered a surprise…the hilltop trail was lined with wine berries, which are an edible invasive related to raspberries. We filled up two water bottles with berries as we walked.
Saturday–Not much of a surprise, but I was really excited about the wine berries, so we went back to get more, and this time we came armed with buckets! We walked and picked for almost two hours…yes, we were in the shade!
