Wandering

Holy Crap!

I know 10,000 steps in a day is the ideal 'goal' for most people. I'm not most people.  I average 4-6 thou.  I'm a sedentary type girl. The only time I come close to 10,000 is on days when I do both Superstore and Costco in the same day. 

But I reached more than ten thousand today.

And let me preface by saying I hate snow, and cold, and dark and all things winter.

But JimE and I went snowshoeing today. 

Okay, I admit I feel like a bit of a snowshoeing expert... I went out for about an hour last week with my dear friend Darlene Mj - my only time snowshoeing since I was in the sixth grade. But I felt empowered. 

"Let's do Moore's Meadow," I suggested. 

Thinking: this is a park in the city, it'll be relatively easy. I can handle it. Even after dark. 

I have lived in Prince George for over 43 years and I had been in Moore's Meadow park exactly ONE time.  It was 1980. I was 15 years old. And while I was in this said park I smoked two joints with an unnamed future-sister-in-law. I honestly have no idea how we found our way out of said park. 

I've never been back. And I've never smoked another joint.

Anyway... back to tonight... 

It was snowing lightly and the moon was marginally visible through a light cloud cover at about -2 degrees. 

We geared up in a parking lot off Foothills blvd and set off. 

Neither of us having any idea where we were actually heading, we just sort of "coin tossed" every Y in the path and headed off. 

Okay, I should interject here that I can totally get lost in a simple mall. I've been known to go browsing in a store and come out and head back in the direction I just came from with NO recollection of direction. 

JimE kept saying, "We can turn back any time - remember we have to repeat our steps to get back to the truck."  

I kept responding, "I can do this." Thinking: if we just keep walking I'm sure we'll circle the park and end back where we came from. 

Holy Crap. 

About one hour into the trek, when we ventured upon a row of houses, I assumed we'd come back around to 1st Ave... not far from where we parked. But no. We were so off course it's not even imaginable. 

 Standing in the moonlight on a path in the woods I consulted Google Maps to try figure out where we were. A woman walking her dog approached us.   I confessed I was lost and asked where Foothills Blvd was.  "Oh. Oh dear. It's quite a ways. I can give you a ride?"  

How does one get so lost so easily? 

We declined her help but thanked her profusely for her offer. 

And off we trudged.

Okay, if you aren't familiar with Moore's Meadow, it's a park in the city bowl. The bowl - y'know the flat area of the city that was carved out by the rivers millennia ago. Who knew there were actual mountains and valleys within the park?? Not me, that's for sure. 

Seriously, there were 90 degree hills. Is it possible for a hill to be steeper than 90? Cuz I'm pretty sure there are some in Moore's Meadow. And we hiked them up. And we hiked them down. ALL of them. Twice, some of them. 

And I started to think about the Children of Israel wandering in the desert for 40 years.  FORTY years.  Here I was two hours in and feeling somewhat helpless.  

JimE, gentleman that he is, offered to leave me and trudge out on his own. Uh...not too likely. You can't find us outta this wilderness, like heck I'm gonna sit here in the woods on my own, trusting you'll somehow make it out and manage to get the truck closer to where I am. We don't even know where I am. 

I regretted not putting a keto bar in my pocket for energy. 

I wished I had packed a water bottle. 

I wished I had enabled Google Location Services path tracker thingy.  Big Brother be damned. 

I did in fact have the foresight to put a couple of "Hot Pockets" in my pocket. Y'know... in case I got cold. 

I didn't get cold. I actually worked up a sweat. 

So the sh!t I prepared for was not actually the sh!t I needed. 

Somehow this was enlightening.

Can we ever really prepare for the sh!t we are faced with? 

Long story short, I put on more steps than average (maybe even more than ever.) And I did manage to find my way 'round to where I needed to be. 

I was pretty much exhausted after trudging 6km through snow uphill and down.