by Curt Kovener
After my February adventure in 2022 my physician and my cardiologist strongly recommend that I drink lots of water and exercise. So I have been drinking about a gallon of water each day and running… running to the bathroom.
In reality, my exercise regime consists of treks in the woods. There is a trail that follows the ridge that goes up on one side of the lake and down on the other. It’s about a half mile total trek, half of which is at about a 10% incline.
My routine is to start at the front sidewalk and head north past the property boundary, past the large uprooted tree for a final 200 feet of steeper heart pounding incline. I breathe deeply, puffing and panting the entire way resulting in a vigorous cardio workout.
When I get to the pinnacle, I do my best imitation of Sylvester Stalone training in the original “Rocky” movie: arms upraised in victory after reaching the summit.
Then I pick up the pace a bit to keep my heart pumping vigorously as I make my way around and down the west side of the ridge.
Admittedly, a winter time hike is rather boring what with all the brown leaves & brown bark of trees and fallen limbs. And sucking in 30 degree air does make my lungs cry out as they dry out.
But over the past few weeks with temperatures warming, nature’s color has started to return. Shades of tender green have begun to emerge on the ground rising through the brown leaves, brown branches and dead twigs.
For some misdirected sinister reason, the first greenery to emerge in the spring all have sticker brairs: cat’s claw and multi-flora rose.
Cat’s claw grows upwards until it finds a low hanging tree branch or other cat’s claws and begins vining. Multi-flora rose grows wherever they darn well pleases but usually along the woodland’s edge. Having curved thorns, both will try to reach out to pull at my hat, my sleeves, my pant legs.
But on my most recent trek through the wilderness trail, I spied some of the first woodland flowers of the season: tiny blooms of five petals with stripes of pink, aptly named Spring Beauty.
I have noticed the fiddleheads of ferns awakening from their winter sleep. By summer, their feathery fronds will completely cover the ground.
In the future, my walks may not be a vigorous as I scour the ground for more new flowering growth. It will be a fit and start pace, especially in a few weeks when mushrooms begin their surprise appearance.