Hiking News - The Naked Rambler

I couldn't keep this one to myself. Have you guys heard about the Naked Rambler? Apparently, he roams the UK sans clothes, and is repeatedly arrested because of that. Well, now he's a free man (in more ways than one)!

Image pulled from BBC News

Check out BBC News for the full story.

So, if you're planning any hikes across the pond, you might want to avert your eyes should you come across someone who's taken "back to nature" a little too seriously!

Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! I'd love to hear from you in the comments section! You can like me on Facebook and follow me by email at the top of the left hand navigation bar by simply entering your email address. Happy Trails!

Hiking Will Knock You Off Your Feet!

It had to happen eventually. That moment that we all try our hardest to avoid. One moment you're walking along enjoying the creek and watching your dog enjoy the creek. The next moment you're on the ground, staring at the sky through a cloud of pain.. How did you get there? Why is everyone huddled around and looking at you? And what is that thing poking you in the back?

This weekend's hike was supposed to be easy-peasy. Momma Cloudy was in town for Independence Day and she had told me how much she wanted to come hiking with Hubs and I. So Papa Cloudy, Momma Cloudy, Hubs, Sprocket, Cocoa, Buster (Papa Cloudy's furbaby), Dolly (Momma Cloudy's furbaby), and I went off to Patapsco. In case you were counting: yes, that is one dog per person. Since we've had some record breaking heat we thought that an easy hike to the river, followed by swimming, would be delightful. All was going according to plan until we got out of the car, and then it turned into a crap-shoot.

I've hiked Cascade Trails often enough. You'd think I'd know my way around, wouldn't you? Apparently I was incorrect thinking that all the little trails off the road led to the trail head. That was my first mistake. Having too much pride to admit that I'd made a mistake was my second mistake.We hiked along the creek because I just knew that it had to lead us to the trail around the bend.. or maybe it'll be just around the next bend.. You get the picture. I had promised Momma Cloudy that we would be going on an easy hike, but so far it was proving to be rather difficult. Trees were down across the stream, debris had collected into piles that we had to maneuver around. The next thing I know, I'm sprawled out across the creek -- water filling my shoes, a rock sticking into my lower back, and a little dazed from the pain.

I was lucky not to have seriously injured myself. Well, maybe luck didn't have as much to do with it: I was prepared for a hike. Hubs and I have our Flash 18 Packs that we take on all our hikes. Often this is because we are carrying our food and water, first aid kit, dog gear, towels, etc. This time it was purely from a weight loss perspective. I knew we wouldn't be on the trail long, but I filled up my Platypus Water Bladder anyway to give my pack some weight.

I was also carrying a water bottle for Momma Cloudy, a Gulpy for the dogs, and a few other things. 

By the way, I love my Gulpy. It's so convenient for the dogs because it stores the water and bowl together, no muss no fuss.

Why did I carry all this? Because carrying the weight burns more calories. Caloric considerations aside though, it probably definitely saved my upper back and head from some serious injury.

I was also wearing my hiking boots. I mention this because hiking boots are designed to protect your ankles from twists, scrapes, and the like. Wearing my boots on this short hike prevented me from twisting or breaking my ankle when I fell. I'm glad I did, because even with the protection of my boots, my ankle was a little sore.

You never know what you're going to encounter when hiking (even on trails you know) and being prepared for as many situations as you can be will save your life (or your back and ankles). So to summarize - packs save backs, boots save foots (and ankles) =D

Even though I fell and am still feeling the effects of that fall, it was a great hike! What hike isn't great? Ok.. aside from that poor hiker who broke his leg then had to save his rescuer.

I'll leave you with some pictures from our hike =]

Buster and Dolly 

 Buster and Poppa Cloudy

Dolly and Momma Cloudy 

Patapsco River

I had to blow this picture up so you could see it, so please excuse the image quality. We saw another deer!

Right after the doe came a little fawn, but she was too quick for me to catch on camera!

If you haven't had a chance to yet, head on over to Facebook and like my page! I post interesting articles, volunteer opportunities, and other fun things in addition to blog updates!

Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! I'd love to hear from you in the comments section! You can like me on Facebook and follow me by email at the top of the left hand navigation bar by simply entering your email address. Happy Trails!

Cascade Falls, Buzzards Rock, and a Sister Hike

My little sister is the coolest. She's amazingly creative, fun to be around, and one of the most beautiful people that I know - inside and out. And she loves to hike! Earlier this week, we took a sister hike over at Patapsco State Park. We decided to see if we could hike from Cascade Falls trail head on Landing Road over to Buzzards Rock trail head on Hilltop Road. It took a little coordination with cars, but it was really fun!

To see our trail guide visit my EveryTrail page.

When we hiked this it was still only a couple days after last weekend's storm. There were a few trees down along the trail. Mostly all of the smaller debris had been cleaned up. The trees were just waiting for a chain saw.

Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy 

Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy

Amazing how big strong trees can snap like twigs in high winds, isn't it? After we played Limbo with the trees, we crossed the stream several times until we came to the name sake of the trail: Cascade Falls.

Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy

Stream along the trail 

Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy

Cascade Falls

I love this little pool. It's perfect to wade in and cool off on a hot summer day, or just to cool your feet after being in your hiking boots! As you can see, Sprocket is loving it =]

When you get to the falls, you cross over the stream on the rocks to follow the trail. Be careful! The rocks can be very slippery! We had to help the puppies across because they were scared to jump across the rocks.

When you get to the second trail head, you can either continue to the left on Cascade or you can be crazy like Littlest Cloudy and I and go down towards the road and across the Swinging Bridge towards Grist Mill trail.

 Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy

 Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy

On the other side of the bridge you follow Grist Mill trail to the left until you come across a small tunnel with a stream running through it. Go through the tunnel (it's not scary, I promise!) and Buzzards Rock is immediately on the left. The butt buster part. YES! Tone those glutes!

Buzzards Rock has become one of my favorite short hikes. The loop is only a couple miles long, so you can loop it a couple times or you can combine it with other trails (like we did). Its a moderate to difficult hike in parts, but it works all those.. chocolate donuts.. off your butt.. I know, you would never eat those awful things. Me neither.. honest.. (Ok! So I like my donuts!)

If you're following along with our trail guide, you can see that we stopped at the parking lot on Hilltop Road. If you want to challenge yourself more, you could easily continue on Buzzards Rock until it meets Grist Mill trail where you'd take it to the left if you're having a good time, take it to the right if you want it to feel fine.. Oh sorry (I don't listen to the Spice Girls, what are you talking about?)! Take a left on Grist Mill and follow it up to the Swinging Bridge, then cross the road back to Cascade Falls which you'd take the loop on the right and eventually make it back to your car on Landing Road! Crazy, right? That would make this hike about 5 miles.

Littlest Cloudy and I were walking this trail quickly because dark was rapidly approaching, so it only took us about an hour. I can honestly say though that when I have more time I'm going back and hiking the full loop. 

On a different note, Mid-Atlantic Off Road Enthusiasts are doing some awesome work with trail clean up from the Derecho! If you have some time to help them, check out their calendar to see when you can help out! Taking care of our trails is really important, and these guys are doing a great service to all of us who enjoy them!

Stop on over and like MJTHB on Facebook!

Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! I'd love to hear from you in the comments section! You can like me on Facebook and follow me by email at the top of the left hand navigation bar by simply entering your email address. Happy Trails!

McKeldin Area Derecho Damage

Friday night, we had the mother of all storms. It was a rare thunderstorm that had a huge wind system move in right before it. The winds were hurricane strength, breaking trees in the area like twigs. Then the lightening started. I've heard friends say that the sky was light as day because of all the lightening. This storm system is called a Derecho. Accuweather.com posted a story about this weekend's storm, if you'd like to read more about it.

Hubs and I came through the storm no worse for wear. We didn't lose one branch off our trees. We were lucky. Most areas were littered with downed trees and power lines. Most lost electricity. Some lost water service. The Governor declared a state of emergency, and what did Hubs and I do? Hiked, of course!

Well.. we tried to hike. Since we didn't have any problems from the storm, we didn't think to listen to the news about other areas of the state. So off we set to Patapsco State Park's McKeldin Area, where we planned to hike about 8 miles. Ever since I joined Everytrail.com I've been itching to try the McKeldin Area full day hike of about 16 miles, but we haven't had the nerve to do it. This weekend, Hubs and I were going to try half of it. At 8 miles it would be our longest hike.

What we saw when we pulled into the parking lot was destruction. Trees were down all over, power lines were haphazardly tangled in the branches.

As we continued along the trail, there were more branches and trees down, sometimes to the point that we had to weave our way through them. We knew that the park service had their hands full with many trails, so we did what we could. Any branches that we could pick up between the two of us we moved off the path.

In addition to the tree debris, the trail was very muddy and the storm water had changed the river to a sad brown.

I am absolutely astounded at the raw power of nature. This trip left me in awe of how dangerous nature can be, and how deadly it could be for an unprepared person.

As a result of the storm damage, we ended up only hiking 2 miles. Tree scrambling is not nearly as fun as rock scrambling! 

**Hubs looked at the GPS tracker and realized it cut off half way through our hike. He thinks we hiked about 6 miles total**

I would like to go back and hike this trail again (just maybe not right after a storm!), because the trail map promised some awesome sights to see along the way. I love a hike with a view! But even all the storm damage couldn't keep us from finding delight in this hike. We came across a young deer that bounded right across the trail! And this time, my camera did work!

You can see her in the middle of the picture, worrying about whether we were going to come after her.

We also crossed over train tracks (be aware that these are active tracks), and saw this beautiful tunnel.

No, I did not get close enough to take a better picture. I'm too much of a scared-y cat!

I'll leave you with a picture of these awesome geese, that are totally ballin'. They laugh in the face of danger!

There's more to come later this week so be sure to check back! Littlest Cloudy and I set off together and she's got some beautiful photos to share with you all!

Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! I'd love to hear from you in the comments section! You can also follow me by email at the top of the left hand navigation bar by simply entering your email address. Happy Trails!

P.s. Ever made homemade chicken broth? I hadn't till last night cause I was so sure it would be too time consuming. Well thanks to Kelly at The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking I made it for the first time - and it's awesome! Mosey on over and see for yourself =]