Pictures of me, taken by myself. I tend to go with the official (365 Days) definition of a self portrait: “A self portrait is a photo of yourself taken by you” … “The main thing is that you are both the photographer and the subject.”
Testing, testing. One, two, three — Two outpatient visits to the hospital today for some tests. Ultrasound in the morning, and my annual cardiology checkup in the afternoon. All my results were good. In a little experiment, I used AI to obfuscate the personal information in the image. It makes a nice change from pixelating it.
Lanie’s been in Europe since December. It’s been my job to give her car a run out every now and then while she’s gone. One has to do these things in style 🙂 +1
Trip over — Three nights and four days by the lake. I left a day early as I didn’t fancy hiking out in the 90°F+ temps forecast for Monday. +1
Just sitting and watching — That’s pretty much how I spent four days. The cup of tea was optional. +2
Noodles for lunch.
Campfire — It is very rare for me to have a campfire nowadays. But I’d collected the wood, so I might as well use it and keep the fire ring clean.
Ready for the trail. Or, judging by the reflection in my sunglasses: “Car, dunny (a.k.a. vault toilet), arm and camera.” I’m planning on spending four nights and five days at my favorite camping spot by Table Rock Lake.
I had just crossed Paddy Creek Road for the second time today.
Lunch in the shade by Paddy Creek.
Gary (and company) at the Paddy Creek scenic overlook. 2
Gary, about to cross Paddy Creek Road — The Big Piney Trail has three road crossings. I’m about to cross Paddy Creek Road, and if things go according to plan, I’ll be crossing it again a few miles further on and after lunch.
Starting Out — Hiking the Big Piney Trail Clockwise. I’ve taken a day off so that I can spend three days on a slow hike of the 16-mile loop of the Big Piney Trail in Paddy Creek Wilderness. Unlike previous trips, it is forecast to rain on the first day, not the last. +1
Day Three – tea in bed at ‘Cab Creek’. Note the sun just rising above the edge of the hollow.
Preparing and eating lunch — time to have some lunch before getting on the trail. And finally the sun has come out! +1
Packing away — It rained quite a lot last night and the drips were still falling from the trees, so I kept the tarp up while I packed everything away.
Lollygagging — it was quite cold early in the morning, I was glad I bought my big puffy jacket and some base layer pants to wear.
This wasn’t my plan for the weekend. Day One — Gary at the Pole Hollow trail Junction. Orange hat because it is turkey hunting season. 3 2
Hike over, obligatory end of hike selfie — Trip total, a very modest 10.5 miles and 1,000 ft. of elevation gain.
I’m in no rush … I don’t need to be home until this evening, and it’ll only take around two hours to hike back to the trailhead. I might as well relax for a while.
Ooh look, there are newish blazes on this trail too. Note the buff to keep my ears warm.
Blazes? I’ll take some stinking blazes! It was a Windy, cold but bright start to the day. Back on the Ridge Runner/North Fork Loop trail, and there are some new blazes. There’s a chance I may find the trail Junction I’ve been searching for.
Camped among short leaved pines for a change — I like camping among the pines, but it was windy and watching the tops of these 100 Ft. tall trees whip around, did make me wonder how much of a good idea that was. I’m still here, so it can’t have been bad choice.
Another evening, another trailhead — I am at County Road CC Trailhead in Ozark County to be precise. I have a couple of hours before it gets dark to get to my planned campsite and set up camp for the night. That shouldn’t be a problem as I’m only going a mile or so.
End of hike selfie — Three nights, four days. Twenty-one miles and 1600 ft. Nothing too strenuous, but I’m nearer to 70 than 60, not to mention having to keep an eye on my heart (well those are the excuses I’m fielding at the moment).