Impromptu letterboxing with Sno' today. Cincy Nature Center Long Branch Farm. What a cool place. Enough to make me want to go back and check out the rest of CNC. Anyway......4 boxes the lure of First Finders on 3 of them. Sno and I are not very adventurous most days. We are both experienced women (read middle-aged) with a history of sprains, strains and other trail injuries. I myself have an affinity for taking sticks to the head.
I don't know what got into us today. Full of all kinds of hellfire. The trail crosses Long Branch Creek 4 X. Of course when I printed the clues, I thought to myself - Self there will be bridges across those creeks. Wrong! No bridges at all. WTH! The creek was half frozen in some spots and free flowing in others. Hard to tell where it was good to step and not a good day for wet feet or worse.
Normally we two fraidy cats would have called it quits and fetched other boxes. Instead we just went for it. We found a wooden plank that would get us across the first crossing (no ice mostly wet). We opted instead for a more direct route and we used a stick to pound the ice off the rocks and skipped across easy peasy with dry feet.
The second water crossing was one of Sno's shining moments as she skated fearlessly across the dubiously frozen creek like Michelle Kwan. WTH! I certainly wasn't gonna let her get the better of me. And even tho I have a hundred pounds on her, I followed suit. Across 2.
The third water crossing seemed too risky to both of us. Perhaps a bit slushy. Perhaps deep if you broke thru the ice. But we reasoned 4 water crossings put us on the side of the creek we were on now, so Sno' suggested maybe we could bushwhack up to the ridge and find the trail from up there. Again WTH!?! Who are these women and where did they get the cahones to cross semi-frozen creeks and scamper straight up muddy hillsides thru brambles and leaves that would previously have sent them scurrying to the nearest Starbucks for lattes (no fat, one Splenda + 1 regular).
Of course Sno was right and we managed to score all 4 boxes but only cross the creek twice. Although now that I think about it, I 'm pretty sure we crossed more than the creek.
FYI - photo was taken at Williamsburg Community Park. We were there too.
As usual, you captured the adventure beautifully. But you did forget the other acts of daring do at our first stop in Williamsburg - I did climb a few other hill sides!! It was a beautiful day and the picture captures it nicely.
ReplyDeleteIt was that. And you were inspirationally fearless.
ReplyDeleteDonna and I bow to your fearless creek-crossing prowess. We spent the day playing with the BIA, knitting, and Five Guys.
ReplyDeletemmmmm....burgers......
ReplyDeleteI love this post! It's so engaging, and the writing is just so natural and easy--it flows beautifully. Makes me feel like/wish I were there with you.
ReplyDelete