The Curious Housewife

Pardee Reservoir, Calaveras County This is as green as our county gets! This creek was difficult to pass two years ago. Yesterday it was just a hop, skip and a jump! See that little clearing at the top? We were on that ridge! There was a profusion of flowers towards the end of the hike. A real treat! That's me, on Patti's Pt, with the Mokelumne River and Pardee Reservoir in the background. The hillsides were covered with all sorts of orange and yellow flowers. Yesterday, Earth Day, was my birthday. I turned 49 this year, no mean feat! My friends, who are older than me, tell me that I am just a baby still. Let's hope so. I also went on a memorable hike yesterday to celebrate, quietly and inwardly, and to see what I could do for myself physically and mentally. It was a kind of perfect day really: great weather, an abundance of wildflowers, and enjoyable company. In short, a great day for a very long hike. Originally, I ...

The author, far left, on hike to Osborne Ridge, Lake Alpine, CA. 2017 Towards the end of 2016, I joined Meetup in order to try and find some other people who wanted to hike. I had been walking regularly on a trail near my home but wanted to expand my efforts and didn't feel comfortable hitting the trails by myself. I joined a couple of different groups and started to go on some "hikes." (I put that word in parenthesis because even after a year's time I really can't define what a hike is.)  It's been a little over a year now since I started this hobby of mine. I have learned some things by watching and talking to the people in my hiking group. Being an introvert, I have also engaged in personal reflection and have come up with some ideas. For people like myself who are nervous about starting new things or are just a tad bit neurotic in general, I thought that sharing some of these observations might be helpful. 1. Going for a walk doesn't requi...