Morning sun in the side-yard maple. It's shaping up to be a hot one: 96F for the high, with 90% humidity. A good day to escape to the mountains, if you ask me --- though it won't be exactly chilly there, either, it'll surely still be cooler than here. A quick look at the weather app tells me that the high in Saluda itself will be 92, so no, not exactly cool, but a little less oppressive than here.
So, the plan: in just a few minutes I'm going to finish my coffee, get dressed, and let the dog out for a quick walk. Maybe I'll wait to give her her breakfast in her crate in the car. I'll stow her travel water bowl (also currently in the car, along with the crate, which lives there) in my daypack for the trail, along with some water bottles, so she and I both can have some water while we're hiking. I'll also toss a pair of sandals in the car for when we come off the trail.
This will be a first real NC mountain outing for my Birkenstock hiking boots, which I bought on Ebay back in the winter. I have worn them plenty, mind you, and did hike in them in Norway, but haven't had an opportunity to take them out on the home territory, for which I really bought them. I'm looking forward to how they'll feel on Appalachian terrain. They're already pretty well broken in, thanks to many winter dog walks, and I'm confident that the toe box is big enough for comfort coming down hills. As I probably said when I bought them: I had had their predecessors, a pair of leather Vasque boots, for thirty years before finally deciding that I couldn't wear them anymore, and I intend to have these boots, and keep walking in them in the mountains, for at least that long.
Wearing today, for the hiking trail and beyond:
Redyed royal-blue Camellia: the default hiking dress. She was my challenge dress two years ago, which meant that I wore her for everything, including hiking. Now I just carry on in that tradition. This dress is a good length and weight for hiking: above my knees, a lightweight knit that doesn't get hot. I wear bike-short underwear underneath so that I don't flash anybody while scrambling up a trail. Also --- the fact that this dress has already taken a beating means that she might as well go on taking the beatings and spare the others. Sierra is the exception: I do wear her for hikes in cooler weather. The others get babied a little more than that, to enhance their longevity.
I'll probably also take my pink sunhat, and I'll be carrying my daypack and wearing the leash belt as well, to keep hold of one of my hiking companions. But this is the basic outfit: Camellia + Birk boots + Boody bamboo "chunky bed socks," which are great for warm-weather hiking. I have some heavy-duty wool socks, but am not feeling them in this heat. Belt pack to carry small essentials.
I've never for one instant regretted redyeing this dress.
Verily, this is my kind of color. So I'll feel good on the trail, but I'll also feel good wherever we stop for a bite and a beer after hiking.
Better sign off and finish getting myself together, and the dog walked a little before she goes in her car crate. More to come!
EVENING UPDATE:
So, the hike was kind of a bust. It was hot here; funnily enough, it was almost as hot in Saluda, close to the South Carolina line. We had trouble finding the trailhead to begin with, and the AC in my car decided to have the vapors (so to speak). When we finally found the trailhead and began to hike, we quickly realized that . . . reader, it was hot.
Here's me going bleah, about fifteen minutes in.
Here's Dora, also going bleah.
We did persevere for a while. I'm guessing we walked about 45 minutes all told, but there came a point where we looked at each other and said, "Are you having fun? Really? Me either."
So we hiked out, got in the car, and drove quite some distance looking for an AutoZone or something like it, where maybe we could buy some freon. Nothing doing. We stopped for gas, and miraculously, when we started the car again, the AC kicked in, blowing hard, as if it had never given up the ghost.
We thought about stopping in Shelby for dinner, but it was still so hot we really couldn't safely leave the dog in the car. So we came home and went out for our normal Thursday-night pub night, where we met up with some of our neighbors and had a nice visit.
So all's well that ends well.
HOT sun through the trees along the Green River.
But you know, I put on Camellia to hike this morning, I hiked in Camellia for 45 awful sweaty-sauna minutes, and rode in the hot car in Camellia, and then I wore Camellia to the pub, so that is totally something.
BEDTIME UPDATE:
I at least wound up walking 4.65 miles today --- mostly with Dora, but also back and forth to the pub.