Walks with Moss: Mount Walker, second post after start of class

Free Hop Diggity Brand Beer

The plan today was to take it a bit easy and do Lena Lake in the pouring rain. But there was too much snow on the road to Lena, so I went for Mount Walker instead. The sun was shining on Mount Walker and the views were grand, I wish I had brought my big camera with me. I brought my point and shoot because I was expecting rain and it was raining hard everywhere, everywhere except for Mount Walker. Mount Walker is in Quilcene and it catches a bit of the Sequim rain shadow.

As usual with Mount Walker, there were a lot of other people and their dogs on the trail, but it was not too crowded and I got a little bit of a work out and some solitude. The hike was only 5 miles, but I gained 2,000 feet in the first two miles.

My ankle was good today, it did not flop over at all, but it did slide forward once. But even when it slid forward, it only hurt about ¼ as much as usual and it does not hurt at all now. My ankle must be getting stronger.

My left knee hurts a bit, I don’t know what is wrong with it, and it started hurting when I was driving to Albany. I thought that getting in and out of my car was the source of the pain and my knee did get better after I got home from that trip, but it’s still not 100%. Yeah, I guess I’m well into my 40’s now, my knees hurt and I’m farsighted. I am thankful for every hike that my body is able to take me on. I hope I can keep hiking well into my 80’s. I suppose that once I hit my late 60’s I should stop hiking solo, if I can still hike at all.

Anyway, the views at the top were nice and it was not too cold up there, so I was able to stay on the top and meditate for a while. I also walked over to the other view point before I headed back down. When I got back down to the trail head I accidentally drove off with my SPOT on my car, so I had to drive back about 1 mile to retrieve it. I found it laying in the snow, it was just fine.

On the way home I stopped at Triton cove to use the facilities and found free beer there. YES I SAID FREE BEER!!!!. This is the second free beer that I have found this month!!! I sure have a knack for finding free beer, I guess the universe wants me to drink beer and who am I to argue with the Universe? This time the brand is “Hop Diggity” and it is from the Port Townsend Brewing Company. It cost $4.45 a bottle and I found two bottles of it.

5.9 miles with 2,000 feet elevation gain
Average moving speed only 2.3 miles per hour (that could be why my ankle did better)