"If you want to lose weight, walk Pilot Butte three times a week. If you want to lose weight faster, then six times!" (a saying I heard some years ago)
After a short debate, I decided to keep my promise to myself and go up Pilot Butte. I'd walked it in the past, and even got my 50 trips--100 miles reward of having my name posted on the bulletin board. All that had been done on the road, and this time, I was going to take on the nature trail.
At the base of the butte, by the parking lot, is a flat, paved quarter-plus mile trail. I learned in past times that if I walked a loop before and after, it was easier going up and my legs didn't cramp on the way home.
I was under dressed. I had a short-sleeve tee shirt and a hoodie sweatshirt. Other people I could see on the trail wore gloves, hats, jackets. The wind was blowing cold, the sky was overcast and I imagined getting soaked before it was all done. I started with my back to the wind and walked the loop quickly with my sleeves pulled down over my hands.
The sun broke out as I finished the loop and headed to the trailhead. The rose bushes had been severely pruned. The bulletin board now had Janice Stencamp at 7200 miles--or was it 7500? My name had been removed from the 100 mile listing a couple of years ago. Today? Perhaps the start of my 200 miles. A yellow sign warned that a cougar was spotted on the butte on March 23, 2015. Good to know.
I hesitated a moment at the divide. I could still do the road trail, but I decided to keep my promise and went straight up on the nature trail. The wind was less, due to it being behind me again, and the amount of trees that bordered the way.
There are no less than five benches on the trail. Years ago, I sat on one while my youngest daughter played with a bubble gun. This was as far as I got, looking over St. Charles Hospital while she praised me for making it that far. This was so long ago, that she was only two-thirds as tall as she is now.
It is shorter than the road trail, but much more steeper and is all dirt. I got to the point where I would stop, rest a moment, start again for 45 or 50 or 70 steps, stop, rest, repeat. I stayed out of the benches. I charted my progress by guessing where I was in relationship to the road. There were wooded posts along the trail that I noticed, and some had numbers painted on the top. I thought that they were some sort of distance markers, but the numbers repeated, or so it seemed, and therefore made no sense.
When I was a child, one of the first books I owned was "The Big Jump and Other Stories." The first one was of a king who could jump to the top of his castle tower in one leap. A young boy met his challenge of jumping to the top by jumping up one stair at a time. I put myself into the story: The important thing was to get to the top, and so, no matter how long it took with my many rest breaks, I would make it to the top. After all, I did this before when I first walked to the top, and over time, I was able to walk up and down without any rest breaks but the bathrooms. I imagined repeating my successful trips. I unzipped my hoodie, it became so warm.
Up at the top of the butte, I took my victory lap, my trip to the outhouse, and then went up the ramp to the top. I wondered if the butte had been closed to vehicular traffic, but a Toyota soon showed up. There was one other person, but then a whole bunch showed up, having taken the road route. To the west, the mountains were all covered with low clouds, making it look as if they had never existed. To the east, a sunny area at Powell Butte, with the surrounding grounds being shady from the clouds. To the south, thick rain clouds sat over Newberry Monument and Lava Lands, and I wondered if I would make it down before they hit. To the north, Mt. Adams was gone and Smith Rocks didn't look so well. The wind was still strong as I flapped my sweatshirt to cool off. I headed down the paved road, seeing no advantage to taking the steep trail down. I took the loop at the base, and then drove off to Costco.
The whole event took about an hour an a half, time well spent. I was tired in the afternoon, and laid down for a short rest that turned into two hours. I will do yoga tonight.
After a short debate, I decided to keep my promise to myself and go up Pilot Butte. I'd walked it in the past, and even got my 50 trips--100 miles reward of having my name posted on the bulletin board. All that had been done on the road, and this time, I was going to take on the nature trail.
At the base of the butte, by the parking lot, is a flat, paved quarter-plus mile trail. I learned in past times that if I walked a loop before and after, it was easier going up and my legs didn't cramp on the way home.
I was under dressed. I had a short-sleeve tee shirt and a hoodie sweatshirt. Other people I could see on the trail wore gloves, hats, jackets. The wind was blowing cold, the sky was overcast and I imagined getting soaked before it was all done. I started with my back to the wind and walked the loop quickly with my sleeves pulled down over my hands.
The sun broke out as I finished the loop and headed to the trailhead. The rose bushes had been severely pruned. The bulletin board now had Janice Stencamp at 7200 miles--or was it 7500? My name had been removed from the 100 mile listing a couple of years ago. Today? Perhaps the start of my 200 miles. A yellow sign warned that a cougar was spotted on the butte on March 23, 2015. Good to know.
I hesitated a moment at the divide. I could still do the road trail, but I decided to keep my promise and went straight up on the nature trail. The wind was less, due to it being behind me again, and the amount of trees that bordered the way.
There are no less than five benches on the trail. Years ago, I sat on one while my youngest daughter played with a bubble gun. This was as far as I got, looking over St. Charles Hospital while she praised me for making it that far. This was so long ago, that she was only two-thirds as tall as she is now.
It is shorter than the road trail, but much more steeper and is all dirt. I got to the point where I would stop, rest a moment, start again for 45 or 50 or 70 steps, stop, rest, repeat. I stayed out of the benches. I charted my progress by guessing where I was in relationship to the road. There were wooded posts along the trail that I noticed, and some had numbers painted on the top. I thought that they were some sort of distance markers, but the numbers repeated, or so it seemed, and therefore made no sense.
When I was a child, one of the first books I owned was "The Big Jump and Other Stories." The first one was of a king who could jump to the top of his castle tower in one leap. A young boy met his challenge of jumping to the top by jumping up one stair at a time. I put myself into the story: The important thing was to get to the top, and so, no matter how long it took with my many rest breaks, I would make it to the top. After all, I did this before when I first walked to the top, and over time, I was able to walk up and down without any rest breaks but the bathrooms. I imagined repeating my successful trips. I unzipped my hoodie, it became so warm.
Up at the top of the butte, I took my victory lap, my trip to the outhouse, and then went up the ramp to the top. I wondered if the butte had been closed to vehicular traffic, but a Toyota soon showed up. There was one other person, but then a whole bunch showed up, having taken the road route. To the west, the mountains were all covered with low clouds, making it look as if they had never existed. To the east, a sunny area at Powell Butte, with the surrounding grounds being shady from the clouds. To the south, thick rain clouds sat over Newberry Monument and Lava Lands, and I wondered if I would make it down before they hit. To the north, Mt. Adams was gone and Smith Rocks didn't look so well. The wind was still strong as I flapped my sweatshirt to cool off. I headed down the paved road, seeing no advantage to taking the steep trail down. I took the loop at the base, and then drove off to Costco.
The whole event took about an hour an a half, time well spent. I was tired in the afternoon, and laid down for a short rest that turned into two hours. I will do yoga tonight.
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