Quiet weekend at home

Posted by Kara

No hike this Sunday, unfortunately. Despite the fact that I'm still fighting the remnants of a cold away, I was going to push ahead and hike anyway-- I figure a little walking never hurt anyone, and this time it's not as if I had an upper respitory infection like I did with the Lewis & Clark trail. But despite sleeping on a drowsy allergy pill and having been awake for more than 18 hours (I had to get up at 6am this Saturday to go to an early childhood education conference, at which I was also presenting), I slept very badly, waking up at least twice (the only ones I know for sure are 4am and 6am, because I looked at the clock). The forcast was for rain, though of course it hasn't rained yet all day. Strange weather today, actually. It was chilly, but not really cold, but it looked like the most wintery day we've had so far. Cloudy in the sense that the sky and air is one great big expanse of gray so that you can't tell where the horizon ends and the sky begins sometimes, where it looks as if it must be misting, but there is no precipitation. So in the end, I decided to sleep in a little bit and then headed to the London Tea Room for lunch and a nice pot of my favorite tea blend there-- the 5th of November. Black and smokey like a campfire, really hit the spot.

I don't want the changing weather to affect my hiking. While I'm not really a winter person (fall is by far my favorite season), I don't see that unless it is really unbearably cold and windy, I should stop. The problem is that I need the proper dressings for a winter hike, and I'm not sure what that is yet. I hesitate to go to an outdoorsy shop because I don't want a salesperson pushing expensive gear and coats on me that I cannot afford and may not need. I imagine it is mostly a matter of learning how to properly layer. I have some long-john type underthings that I bought for when I studied abroad in Austria, though I have to find them. Heavy socks are an easy thing to get, and I still need to get off my butt and figure out if those hiking shoes are mine or need to be returned. What I *don't* know is if my winter coat is appropriate-- will it be too heavy and uncomfortable once I start moving and working up a sweat? Should I get something in between a fleece jacket and winter coat, and wear my regular shirt and long-john shirt under that? I have no idea, but I suppose a little bit of trial and error will do me well-- take some shorter winter hikes and see how my winter coat pans out. I don't really have the money to spend on anything too fancy, but I'm going to look around and see what my options are.

Maybe next weekend it will still be nice and I can go on a hike. I really want to try the View Valley Glades hike... though it doesn't come up when I search for it on mapquest. Instead, Victoria Valley Glades shows up in the same area, but is a completely different conservation area that isn't in the 60 Hikes book at all. Confusing. But I have a pretty good idea of how to get there now (both are near Hillsboro, Missouri), so if my luck is set next weekend, I'll check one of them out.