My Hike This Weekend

I went for a hike this weekend.  Shocking, I know.  Lots of people go on hikes, I went on one just a couple of weeks ago.  This was no ordinary hike.  My brother needed a 20 mile hike for a particular Eagle-required merit badge, and he couldn't go by himself.  I did the same thing when I was in Boy Scouts, and since I do so much walking anyway, I got to go with him.  There are people out there for whom a 20 mile hike would not present a significant challenge.  People who are in good shape and who work out actively.  People who do marathons and such.  I am not one of those people.

Luckily, the C & O Canal National Historic Park, which is nearby, has a very long and more importantly very flat trail so that we could hike 20 miles straight without turning around or climbing any mountains.  We started at 10:45 AM on what was actually about as good a day for a hike as you could hope.  70 degrees, sunny, no humidity.  And then we walked.  And walked.  And walked some more.  I walk around frequently, and I can go on some long walks.  Covering ten or so miles isn't much of a problem for me.  At about the ten mile mark, I was feeling a bit tired and sore, but nothing too bad.  Unfortunately, ten miles was only halfway.  The second ten miles is the real test.  And boy, do your legs hurt.  We made it though, finishing up the hike at just before 6 PM.  Considering the lunch break we took, we did the 20 miles in just under seven hours, which is about the same pace that I did it the first time.  I think I'm getting better at it, I got enormous blisters the first time, but nothing this time.  I can still feel the soreness in my legs though. 

Was it fun?  Well, I'm not entirely sure.  Does an abundance of pain sound fun?  Not really, but the sense of accomplishment at having done the hike again was nice.  But please, I don't want to do it again.  It's terrible, hiking that far that quickly is brutal.  So, that was my weekend.

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