We drove out to Raven Run. It's a nature sanctuary thing that used to be a landfill. I had never been there.
The first trail we saw was adjacent to the parking area. Freedom Trail. It was paved, wheel chair accessible. It went down to a little creek. It was 2.5 miles long. It was not bad. We hiked it and Mom informed me that was the warm-up. I am sedentary enough that hiking 2.5 miles was plenty enough for me. I smoke.
Then we hiked back to the nature center. Along the way we stopped at a bird blind and checked out the birds. I discovered just how hyperactive my mother is. I thought when we got there I would be able to sit down for a minute and catch my breath. Mom saw the blind, walked into it, walked out and said "well, that was nice". That fast. There was no pause to see if we could see a bird.
When we got to the nature center, there was a sign saying "trails start here". I honestly thought that the nature center was going to be our final stop. I was wrong.
This was when we departed on the actual hike. We had already walked 3 miles or so. That's more than I walk in most months. Really.
Four miles of trudging through the mud at warp speed later, mom's boyfriend and I were both sweaty, lagging behind and exhausted. We reached the overlook. It's beautiful. The Kentucky River Palisades (if anyone can tell me what a palisade is, please e mail me) are apparently very pretty. It was all very pretty. I must say though that there is a prettier area on the road to High Bridge. And I saw it without walking.
There were already two people there when we arrived. They were watching stuff float down the river. Seriously. They had binoculars and were watching things float down the river. They had seen a basketball, a soccer ball, and a cooler already. While we were there several beer cans floated by. They told us about other rivers they had been to and other crap they had seen in them. Whatever entertains you I guess.
This is where I got ahold of the map. I discovered that we did not have to walk 4 miles. We really only had to walk 1.5 miles or so. There was almost a mutiny. Then my mother agreed to walk the short way back since the park was getting ready to close.
We got to the nature center and I finally got some water. I also saw a real live copperhead snake (in a cage). It's prolly good that I now know what one of those looks like.
Then I realised that we weren't back to the car. The car was through more woods. Damn. Eventually we did make it back to the car. I was beyond exhausted.
The entire time my mother laughed at me. And told stories. And was her normal perky self. She's perky in the msot sarcastic way possible. It can't possibly be expressed in writing.
Basically, I was shocked that I didn't drop over dead. Who knew I could hike nine miles all at once? Not me. Really. Not me.