1/2/2010 Highway 20 Trail

Today luckily I delayed my walk until this afternoon. By then it had quit raining and the temperature was a balmy 47 degrees. My walks these days are chosen for safety reasons, as it gets dark here early and I most often walk alone, so today's walk was selected for safety reasons. It is a paved walking path along a major roadway, Highway 20, between Burlington and Sedro Woolley. The literature says it is 1.7 miles long, but I only went out 1 mile and then looped back. Knee isn't ready yet for much beyond 2 miles, which takes me about 40 odd minutes each time.  Eventually, I'll try to stretch my time to 1 hour, in preparation for some longer "hike" type walks this spring and summer. The minimum I'll walk is 30 minutes, which is the minimum necessary for any sort of healthy benefit.

Since the trail is along a busy highway, it was quite noisy--not a peaceful walk, but it was safe, and having lived in Burlington for the past 29 years and never having walked this route, I did see interesting sites, like a real tree house (furnished and all), multiple bird nests, and two small railroad trestles. I was impressed to see trees with no leaves, but showing plenty of red and pink berries--food for the birds.

View data here:  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/593272

1/1/2010 Padilla Bay Trail

My first walk today was on a local trail about a 10 minute drive from my home called the Padilla Bay trail. It is maintained by Skagit County Parks. The trail is actually on a dike that meanders through an estuary preserve. It's a very easy gravel trail; kid and animal friendly. In hiking books, it is listed as difficulty 1, the easiest. Since I am just 6 months out from knee surgery, the trails I choose for these first few months will be of little challenge until I build up more strength in my leg and stamina in my lungs.

It was very windy today, and although it had been raining through the night, I didn't get rained on at all during the walk. Temperature was in the upper 40s. I was surprised to see 4 other cars in the parking area when I arrived; I wasn't alone.  Nice walk, but like I said, very windy. I only went 2 miles today--a mile out and then back.  Heading out was pretty easy; wind was at my back, and at one time I got up to 3 MPH which is a pretty good pace for my short legs; however, on the way back, holy smokes--the wind was blowing so hard at me, I was having a hard time standing up at times. I would say that the Skagit Flats isn't a great area to walk if the wind is blowing hard.  As I was returning to my car, a couple jogged past me...I could only wonder if they would still be jogging on their return trip.

Usually I see some wildlife here--eagles, ducks, herons; but not today...they were much smarter than I was; or they were recovering from New Year's Eve.  At any rate, Day 1 is in the books! You can view the stats here:  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/592374

Starting Out

A friend of mine decided last year to take a photo every day of 2009. She posts them on Facebook, and I have really enjoyed looking at them each day. This, along with the need to exercise, gave me the idea that I would take a walk every day of 2010.  Six months ago I received a total knee replacement on my right leg, which now allows me the freedom to walk all I want pretty much pain free right now, and I'm sure more so over the next six months. Doctors say it takes a full year to recover from a total knee replacement. Add to this that I'd like to lose another 40 pounds, and this seems like a good challenge.

Because I am a geek, I have several "technologies" to help me: my Omron pocket pedometer, a program from Trimble for my Blackberry phone called AllSport GPS that keeps track of how far I walk, my pace, time, elevation--more data than I really need. I also have a new pair of Salomon XA Comp 4 GTX Trail-Running Shoes for wet, cold weather, new gloves that are wind and water proof, and pretty much every sort of clothing necessary.

I travel a lot, so it could be that some of my walks will be on a treadmill in a hotel, and if we get snow, some of my walks might be indoors at a local mall;  some might be in a city just walking around the blocks exploring neighborhoods, but when I am home, I am going to try hard to vary my route and take use of the myriad of trails we have in the Pacific Northwest.  Since I am somewhat retired, I have the luxury of driving places to try out new trails.

So here we go.