Some days you push your body, maybe a little longer and harder than it’s used to. Recently I went and hiked a NH 4000 Footer — Mt. Whiteface. 9/10 hikes in New England are going to be successful provided with reasonable footwear, enough water and food, and good weather. Hit the trifecta.
I awoke the morning of the hike ~5AM to make the 2 hour drive to the trailhead. Am I svelte? Far from it. Can I put one foot in front of the other? Absolutely. So this 7.5 mile out and back with about 3000 feet in elevation gain was completed in about 5 hours. It was glorious. I saw a black bear cub. The trail is called Blueberry Ledge -- there were wild blueberries. I ate some. But upon returning the Jeep, I was hot, sweaty, and gassed.
The hike broke my body a bit. An unscheduled 10 minute nap unfolded. The trailhead parking lot abuts private land, and the owner was out baling hay. 10 minutes of repetitive vintage baler sounds put my mind at ease. It was an agricultural white noise machine.1 Although I may have only fully LC’ed for 1-2 minutes of the allotted 10, the rest of the time was a legitimate full body nap. The meat carrying my brain around just shut down, and I allowed it to.
In the woods, time is different. My only regret of the hike? I should’ve ignored human-centric time and listened to my body more — and just napped at the summit
Ed.: Ambient sounds as napping cheat codes…going to have to cover that in the future!