I didn’t think I would be hiking today.  I was recovering from a cold and still congested.  It was a promising spring day with temps rising into the mid-50 range so I could not turn down the opportunity to get out of the house.  Little Caesar and I grabbed the dogs and headed out.  By the time we had gotten to the highway, Jett was annoying the crap out of us…not the best car dog.  Whining, panting, pacing in the back seat.  I don’t know how my Pauli dog put up with it.  Because of this, we made a detour to the canal to let the dogs walk off some of their excitement before we continued south.  After about 3 miles down and back the canal near Point of Rocks, Maryland, the dogs were set to get back in the car and on with the adventure!

We made a long detour, ending up in SNP…of course.  The first trail we tried had a stream crossing that probably wouldn’t have seemed that bad had I not been sick.  Little Caesar made it to the other side of the creek without a second thought. Pauli expertly navigated the rock crossing, and Jett…well, Jett, in true farm dog style, crashed into the creek and swam across!  But me…and I will say here … water crossings are not my thing unless I have water shoes and in true farm girl style can splash across.  I got to the second rock and looked down and the swirling water that was cascading up onto the third rock in the crossing.  The third rock was slanted at an odd angle and my head was pounding due to a headache…part of the remaining cold I was fighting.  I felt dizzy and out of it…then my confidence just failed me.  I looked up at Little Caesar waiting for me on the bank and said meekly, “I can’t do it today, I just can’t”.  I wanted to cry.  Looking back I know I made the right decision.  I was still really much more ill than I was letting on.  The congestion, foggy head…I just wanted a walk in the woods.

We pulled back, got in the car with my wounded ego, and headed up into the park.  We found another trail that was lovely.  The trail was very nice and had beautiful views as we wound down the mountain a bit and back up.  Lovely day.