Billy Goat Trail 2019

Last month I hiked the Billy Goat Trail, sort of, with a friend as we have done fortthe past two decades. This year marked the end of the annual hike, for me at least, as my subtle yet real vision deterioration following my four eye surgeries last year preclude me any more from scrambling atop the many jagged rock edges along the boulder fields which intermittently make up the 3-mile rugged, rocky trail.  It immediately became apparent to me that there was too much risk now of a stumbling mis-step on such tricky terrain, with undoubted disastrous consequences. Time passes and things change. So we retired to the C&O Canal Towpath and had a nice 4-mile walk.

We encountered wildlife along the way, turtles in the water and a preying mantis underfoot (which we shooed off the trail).  The view from the overlook gave us dizzying views of roaring, rushing water underneath the bridge to the viewing point.

I always love the reflections that play along the still waters of the canal.  Off the trail down by the backwater channels of the Potomac are little sandy beaches with wading pools where tourists sometimes swim but it is illegal and dangerous, with a prohibitive risk of death by being swept away.

At the conclusion of three enjoyable hours spent perambulating the towpath, we retired from the park till next year.

 

2018, 3d Quarter

July dawned hopefully when on its first day I toured the wine country in Virginia with a friend and we settled into a delightful afternoon of sampling wine offerings from at the Stone Tower Vineyard, and the future looked bright.  The month closed out with a medical emergency which I am still recovering from--the sudden loss of sight in my right eye due to a torn retina requiring immediate eye surgery.  Two more eye surgeries later, it finally seems that perhaps I will save much or most of my sight in that eye.

In between that yin and yang, I attended a memorial service at a lovely church in Ambler, PA  in honor of a cousin of mine, Andrea, who led a notable life as a social worker.  Enroute to that somber event I enjoyed a minor-league baseball game in York, PA, once the capital of the USA for a short while, and paid tribute to a friend of mine who lost his life in 2010 defending our freedoms in Afghanistan, whose likeness was emblazoned on a flag alongside the road on a hill overlooking downtown York amidst a sea of other flags honoring other fallen heroes from the York area (Adam was born in York) in this century's wars.  I also watched July Fourth fireworks from my back steps after enjoying a holiday lunch at the local gourmet pizzeria, forlornly hoping that any or all of my estranged children would finally show up, had lunch with my mentor from my former workplace, ran a few miles on the Mall with a colleague from my former agency where we ran by and momentarily joined in with an active rally for a woman's right to choose the medical provisions she desires or needs for her own body, and hiked the Billy Goat Trail in MD with a friend.

August was tied up with healing from my two surgeries of last summer in a mode of recuperation  known as face-down recovery, where you lie face-down in stillness for 14 hours a day for a couple of weeks following retina surgery, an infamous procedure known only to those unlucky persons who have the onset of torn or detached retinas, largely, I am told, due to genes and can suffer from multiple eye surgeries in amelioration of the condition.  It sucks bigly, and in the second surgery the medical team filled my eye with oil to get the retina to adhere to its bed of cones and rods, a procedure which requires a subsequent surgery to get the oil back out again.  Late in the month I did go for a walk around Roosevelt Island in the Potomac River with a friend, ate out a few times with friends and had a friend take me to see a baseball game at a minor league park in MD.

September was similarly spent sedately, wherein I enjoyed a holiday lunch on Labor Day at my local gourmet pizzeria, discovered that some miscreants had stolen my spare tire sometime during the prior months from my vehicle while it was parked in my driveway most likely, and armed my household following this second expensive invasion of my curtilege during this century.  Mostly I hung around waiting for the day when the oil would be scooped out of my afflicted eye and replaced, naturally, with eye fluid, a procedure I yearned for because the eye never felt right, being filled with a foreign substance within a closed system, and it led to the infrequent but maddening onset of white flare outbursts within my vision in that eye when, as the doctor explained to me, the optic nerve was momentarily uncovered by some movement of mine, a condition which I scrupulously sought to avoid by trying not to have any sudden movements of my head.  Late in the month my sister came to town on business, and we spent a wonderful evening and a day wandering around the District visiting museums, eating in Chinatown and drinking in Irish Pubs.

Billy Goat Trail 2018.

A friend and I went to the C&O Canal National Park recently to perambulate the Billy Goat Trail, a 3-mile rocky trail in Maryland alongside the Potomac River that involves scrambling over rocky promontories overlooking the river and traversing boulder-strewn granite outcrops that make up a large part of the trail.  While not considered a difficult trail, it does necessitate maintaining balance at high points and footing and hand grips along rock faces.

We went clockwise this year, traveling the most difficult part first, having went counterclockwise last year.  We went down the rocky valley, crossed over the first stream by going from rock to rock in the stream bed and crossed over the bridge spanning the second stream.  Thence started the climb up rock slopes to eventually arrive at high overlook points along the far-below river.

But disaster struck, as my friend's shoe came apart from the stress of rock climbing and the sole separated from the shoe.  It was unsafe at that point to go the entire distance with a floppy shoe which could catch in any rock crevice along the way and cause her to lose her balance, perhaps at a perilous point.

So we egressed the trail at the halfway point on a short exit trail to the canal towpath.  The mile and a half of rough trail we had gone had tired us anyway and we enjoyed a less stressful walk back to my vehicle, spotting some wildlife along the way including deer, cranes or pelicans, turtles and frogs.

Birthday

I spent a nice birthday earlier having lunch with a friend and then hiking along the C&O Canal Towpath.  It gave me an opportunity to practice with my new camera.

I have run through the little 8-page set-up guide that came with the Canon, so next I have to print off the 180 page manual and refer to it.  My friends say to just refer to it on line, but, well, it's not written that well and to refer to it and apply whatever it says to the camera, I have to have the instructions  open in front of me.

The camera has a 40X zoom which brings things incredibly close but it's tricky to use because it's hard to find the subject in the field as the initial blurriness of the focus clears, and then hold the camera steady enough to get a clear picture at that magnification.  The slightest tremor or most minor tremble throws off the field or blurs the picture, so I have to practice this feature.

But I am pleased with the new camera and it takes pictures with close detail and vivid colors.  I spent an enjoyable birthday.

More Billy Goat

More Billy Goat Trail 2016.

A blue crane.  My camera was too slow to catch it when it majestically spread its wings and flew away.

Another bird.

That's all.

Billy Goat 2016

In the 17 years that I've been walking the moderately difficult Billy Goat Trail, I used to be able to perch atop pointed rocks and advance considerable distances by scrambling in precarious balance during the 3-mile trek.  Now that I'm approaching what has been traditionally thought to be typical retirement age, not so much.

I also used to scamper over a downed tree over a brook, but now I no longer do so.  I take the sedate bridge over the babbling brook that has a handrail instead.

Today I completed the annual trek.  Next year, who knows, in my mid-60's, I might give it up.

I think my balance is off.  I know that my usual companion in the yearly passage, near my age, struggles now to complete it too.

Billy Goat Trail 2014 Version

Every year I hike the Billy Goat Trail along the Potomac River on the Maryland side, usually with a friend.  The trail is a moderately difficult 3-mile scramble over rocks, up boulder fields and around tree roots.

This year I did it in the fall, which is late for me, as I usually do it in the summer.  But with so many of the leaves blown off the trees by the lateness of the season, I enjoyed better vistas of the river from the trail, which runs through wooded land for the most part.

There are spots where the trail comes out upon sheer precipices overlooking the river.  Also long rock crevices on cliff faces you have to traverse.

If you're not somewhat fit the trail won't be an enjoyable experience.  But completing the trek does give one a certain measure of satisfaction, given its moderate difficulty.

A Concession On the Billy Goat Trail

I recently traversed the Billy Goat Trail, a 3-mile scramble over rock precipices and boulders big and small along the Potomac River in Maryland just off the C&O Canal in Great Falls Park, west of the District.  I do this traipse every year.

It's always a slog because although it's not technically hard, it is a lot of up and down, has some minor climbing and you have to be careful about your footing.

And awaiting you near the end (or at least waiting for me) is the dreaded log bridge, a twelve-foot scamper across a felled tree five feet over a rocky stream with no soft landing if you slip off.  There is a nearby footbridge but until recently, that was no option for me.

The walk across the stream atop the log has gotten more difficult though as the years pass, more uncertain and less sure, shall we say?  This year I teetered across it one more time, overcoming the trepidation and wavering balance brought on by the passage of time and upon reaching the far bank, I reflected with satisfaction my successful passage and decided that, being on the far side of sixty, I had just retired from that particular tree scramble henceforth and will take the footbridge in future years. 

Double workout

Four runs, ten miles, that was last week's workout tally. It was a start in my return to running after taking half a year off due to injury. (Left: The soft, dirt surface of the C&O Canal Towpath is perfect for running on.)

Not that I'm all better, but it's time to get back to activity. Either running or I'm going to have to find something else to do to keep active.

(Right: The park is teeming with critters.) I started off this week's workouts with a two mile lope this morning up the most formidable hill in my town and then down the W&OD Trail, in 20:03. It was such a beautiful Easter day that after a couple of hours of recovery while browsing the numerous books I'll never have time to read in the huge Barnes & Noble in Bethesda, I drove to the C&O Canal for my annual trek on the rugged Billy Goat Trail. (Left: Bridge or downed tree? This year I scrambled across the stream atop the log.)

The Billy Goat Trail is a two-plus mile hard scramble off the towpath over sharp boulders and across sheer precipices that border the tall rock cliffs above the upper Potomac River in Maryland. Two hours later, with my tender ankle aching and my hat brim dripping sweat beads, I was done, having registered a double workout for the day and entertained a fervent hope that I'm on my way back to some modicum of fitness again. (Right: The spectacular views of the Potomac are well worth the strenuous hike.)

The Billy Goat Trail

Recovering from my last marathon a week ago has been interesting--on Tuesday I tried to run a mile but found it hurt too much and I quit after a block. Wednesday I limped home for a solitary mile in 9:47, slower than my average pace during the marathon. Thursday it got better and I did the same mile in 8:40, Friday 8:07, Saturday 8:04 and then on Sunday I broke through and ran my neighborhood mile in 7:40. All better, or so I thought.

There's a nice 1.7 mile hike in the area off the C&O Canal called the Billy Goat Trail that I do every year. It's short but challenging, with large areas over boulder fields where you have to climb up and down three foot tall rocks continuously. It is along the Potomac, and has several panoramic views of the river at overlook points that are, in effect, sheer drop-offs along the sides of cliffs. (Right: The Potomac River as seen from the Billy Goat Trail in MD.)

Scrambling over all of those rock faces on Sunday afternoon reawakened the fire in my trashed quads that the marathon had left me with. On Monday morning my legs felt all beat up again. They feel better today but I hope they get refreshed in a hurry because I have a 3-mile race coming up with a team from work tomorrow morning in SE. I am feeling so not ready for the challenge of a short, sharp race. (Left: Another overlook of the river.)