A dragon on the wing

Saturday morning, the Memphis Outdoor Adventures group went on a "Hummingbird hike" down in Holly Springs, MS. Even though it's still August in Memphis, the day wasn't too hot and there was a nice breeze. 13 of us wandered around the Strawberry Plains Audubon Center for a couple of hours, including a stop at an Antebellum mansion that burned down and got rebuilt in the 60's.

Even though the hummingbird migrations won't really get started for several more days yet, we saw a small swarm of them at the feeder stations near the mansion, and I even managed to get a few decent photos of them. In fact, one photo of mine is the one the webmaster used as the main photo for this hike on their Photos page. Several people uploaded photos from the hike, but the only person who uploaded more than me is one of the hike organizers.

It's odd to stand there among them and have them zipping around you. If you've never experienced it, their wings beat so fast that they really do make a humming noise as they fly. I'm always surprised that the pitch isn't higher than it is, even though I know intellectually why that's so.

There was a Mushroom Hike scheduled for the afternoon, but I decided not to stick around for that one. Maybe next time! :-)

I think I've been "bitten by the bug." Something's "gotten under my skin."

More and more, I'm finding myself wishing I was hiking, camping, or preferably both.

Until recently, I haven't done any appreciable amount of either of these in a decade or more. Then this Spring, I went on an overnight hike along a section of the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania. I spent several weeks (maybe even a couple of months, I'm not sure any more) getting ready for it -- figuring out what I'd need to equip my pack, hunting around for the best deals (and I did find some really good ones), and walking several miles each night (usually with the pack on) to get ready for the trip. Even though I was walking after dark, it was still Memphis -- which means it was still hot and humid, and I was usually sweating like a pig by the time I was done. It was a lot of effort, but it wasn't too unpleasant.

We got to the trail head in Pennsylvania a little later than we'd expected to, but we still had plenty of daylight to make it to our planned campsite. One thing I'd forgotten in my "practice hikes" is that Memphis is basically flat Pennsylvania is anything but flat! Plus, my usual walk was on a sidewalk, and on a fitness trail around a park. Nothing like the constant roots and rocks on the A.T. in PA! (and yes, I've done enough hiking and camping before to know that this is what trails are usually like. It's just been a LONG time since I've done anything like that with a full pack!) Parts of it were fairly challenging... but doing it felt *good*. Even when I was bitching about the heat or the pack or the mosquitos or whatever... I was really enjoying myself.

I keep running into more and more references to things like this, from the "survival quiz" meme that went around back in June (and yes, that is related, at least to me), to an announcement that one of the local parks is going to have a "Full Moon Mixer" next Friday, followed by a night-time hike... and I keep finding myself wanting to have my feet back on a trail.

I used to do a lot more hiking, camping, and other outdoor stuff when I was younger. I'm about to turn 45, and part of me wonders if my re-found fascination is some sort of "mid-life crisis," trying to recapture a part of my youth. It doesn't feel like it is, but would I be the best judge?

All I know for certain at this point is that I'm really enjoying getting back to it, and am looking forward to doing more.