Wachusett Mountain

Sunday was another beautiful day! I slept in a bit, when to socially distant Parkour, and then to Leominster to hike Wachusett. We had a new woman in parkour - she usually does a more advanced class, so it was really nice to have her there to raise the bar. Holy cow - she can jump really far! I want to work on that, jumping far and landing with precision. I was talking about how parkour helped me with hiking, and could I say "I parkoured the fuck out of that?" I think I can. After class I climbed the wall that's there 10 times - I think I'm getting better at it. Climbing in my sneakers is becoming more comfortable, and I don't get scared at all, even though the wall is about 10 feet tall, and there's no cushion at the bottom.

After, I drove out to get a bigger hike in. Wachusett is a 2000 footer, with 750 feet of elevation gain on the trail that I did. I was thinking that I would go up to the top, over, down the other side, and then up again, so it would be 1500 feet of elevation gain, and much more like a mountain. But, it was hotter out that I expected, and I was low on fluids by the time I got to the top, so I just went back down. I did this nice little circle - up Stage Coach trail to Harrington which I took to the top. Harrington got pretty steep for a little bit at the end. Then I took Mountain House from the top to Jack Frost and then High Meadow to Echo Lake. The whole hike was probably a little over 3 miles and it took me a little over 2 hours, but I wasn't rushing. I felt good at the end, a little tired, but I could have hiked further (with fluids).

We still have no news about upcoming furloughs. Except we know that we could be part-time, not working or full-time, and our status could change with the amount of mission critical work that we have to do. And we will know about summer by May 15, but it seems very in the air, like at any time you could wind up having a change in status. Plenty to worry about!

On the bright side, the rhubarb is coming up in the garden, and I made the most delicious strawberry rhubarb tart last night. And then ate the entire thing! I will definitely make this recipe again, super easy and super delicious!!