There were blisters, sore joints, rain, mud, fog, cold windy days and muggy warm days and days when a drink of beer would have been wonderful... but with all that said the entire experience was Great! I lost 15 pounds and that was while I enjoyed ice cream and Nutty Buddy's anytime I felt like it. Yes, I know I could have lost significant weight if I had tried but that was not the focus of this Challenge. The effort here was to show myself that I could focus my attention on something other than a job and to prove that I could go without alcohol anytime I want to. Neither of these things were a problem during the Challenge....
I realize that 260 miles in 40-days is not impressive to some people; however, to someone who spent the last 25-years sitting behind a desk, 260-miles in 40-days is amazing. I hope it is the springboard for me to get more active and to spend more time in the great outdoors... What I did find out was that I am not in as bad a shape as I though... I learned foot care on the fly and adjusted the items that I took on my hikes as I found that I didn't need many things that I started out carrying. I changed to different socks that I layered and I saw lot and lots of interesting animals and fellow hikers. Mainly I had time to think and plan how I want to approach my retirement. I have some issues with my right foot that I will be getting checked before I continue hiking but that should only set me back a few weeks then I will start hiking a couple of times a week. I will also start a new challenge in a couple of weeks to go on a diet and loose some more weight... That's it. The Challenge is complete. Thanks for following my Challenge.... I hope to see you on the trail! 40-day Challenge Final Totals 98.70 Hours Hiking Time 260.71 Hiking Miles 40 of 40 Days Complete 0 Challenge Days Left
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I hiked 2 hours and 14 moving minutes and logged 6.07 miles of trail on a beautiful and mild windy morning. I started my hike at 7:30am. I did not see any animal other than songbirds, geese and ducks today. I assume the wind had them lain down and not moving around. This hike marks the end of the 40-Day Challenge. Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 45 (Wind Chill: 41) End Temp: 58 I hiked 2 hours and 32 moving minutes and logged 6.56 miles of trail on a beautiful, mild windless, overcast morning. I started my hike at 7:30am which allowed me to finish my hike before the wind picked up. Not many animals out today. I saw Bison, Elk, Whitetail Deer and Longhorn Cattle while driving in. Songbirds, Geese, Elk, River Otter and Whitetail Deer on my hike. I also saw a lot of Turkey on my way out of the Refuge. I did not take many photos today. I spent my time picking up trash on the trail as my way to pay back for the time I have spent hiking this trail over the last few weeks. I will be completing the Challenge tomorrow with a hike at Lake Murray State Park.... Weather during hike:
Light Fog - Overcast Start Temp: 57 (Wind Chill: 57) End Temp: 63 I hiked 2 hours and 31 moving minutes and logged 6.50 miles of trail on a beautiful muggy, foggy, windless morning. I started my hike at 7:00am. I saw Bison and Longhorn Cattle while driving in. Songbirds, Geese, Elk and Whitetail Deer on my hike. My surprise of the morning was a Racoon. I also took a photo of a Prairie Dog gathering grass for his home.. The GPS image is from yesterday. My GPS went crazy on me this morning and showed that I hiked 53 miles? I don't know what that is about. I hiked the same route but a little slower today. Weather during hike:
FOGGY Start Temp: 50 (Wind Chill: 50) End Temp: 53 I hiked 2 hours and 18 moving minutes and logged 6.51 miles of trail on a beautiful chilly morning. I started my hike at 7:15am. I saw Bison and Longhorn Cattle while driving in. Songbirds, Geese, bison, Elk and Whitetail Deer on my hike. I saw two really nice White Tail Bucks. One had already dropped one of its antlers. My surprise for the morning was a camera shy Bobcat..... This completes the last weekend of the 40-Day Challenge - Only three days left.... Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 37 (Wind Chill: 33) End Temp: 43 I hiked 2 hours and 22 moving minutes and logged 6.70 miles of trail on a beautiful and chilly morning. I started my hike at 8:00am. Lots of animals out today. I saw Bison and Longhorn Cattle while driving in. Songbirds, Geese, Elk, Bison and Whitetail Deer on my hike. Beautiful day for hiking. Met several hikers as I finished my hike. Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 25 (Wind Chill: 14) End Temp: 36 I hiked 2 hours and 08 moving minutes and logged 6.30 miles of trail on a cold windy morning. I started my hike at 8:15am. Late start - I'm retired! I can start when I want..... Not many animals out today. I saw Bison, Whitetail Deer and Longhorn Cattle while driving in. Songbirds and a single Bison on my hike. The Bison was high on a hill laying down out of the wind. I figure the other animals were also hold up out of the wind and out of sight.... Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 37 (Wind Chill: 23) End Temp: 44 I hiked 2 hours and 03 moving minutes and logged 5.70 miles of trail on a beautiful windless morning. I started my hike at 7:20am. I saw Bison and Longhorn Cattle while driving in. Songbirds, Geese, Bison, Turtles and Whitetail Deer on my hike. I also saw two River Otters in West Cache Creek. The Goose photo is of two ganders fighting. Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 52 (Wind Chill: 52) End Temp: 68 I hiked 2 hours and 35 moving minutes and logged 6.18 miles of trail on a beautiful and windless morning. I started my hike at 7:15am. Lots of deer out today but they are camera shy.... I saw songbirds, Geese, squirrels and Whitetail Deer on my hike. The trail head had paved parking and a restroom facility but the trail is geared for bicycles. Still an enjoyable hike. Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 38 (Wind Chill: 36) End Temp: 70 I hiked 2 hours and 40 moving minutes and logged 6.49 miles of trail on a beautiful and mild windless morning. I started my hike at 7:15am. Not many animals out today. I saw Bison and Longhorn Cattle while driving in. Songbirds, Geese and Whitetail Deer on my hike. I also saw a large covey of Quail. Probably 25 in the covey..... Look close at the last photo - the frogs were out today... Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 50 (Wind Chill: 50) End Temp: 58 I hiked 2 hours and 27 moving minutes and logged 5.70 miles of trail on a muggy mild windless and overcast morning. I started my hike at 7:30am. Not many animals out today. I saw Bison and Longhorn Cattle while driving in. Songbirds, Geese, Bison and Whitetail Deer on my hike. Since this is President's Day there were several hikers on the trail this morning. Two milestones today. First I have hiked over 200 miles during the challenge and second, I have less than 10-days remaining in the challenge...... Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 53 (Wind Chill: 53) End Temp: 55 24-Hr Rainfall: 0.97" I hiked 2 hours and 18 moving minutes and logged 6.49 miles of trail on a very mild and overcast morning. I started my hike at 7:10am. Visibility was limited. Not many animals out today. I saw a herd of Bison some turkeys and a few Whitetail Deer on the drive in. Saw Geese, songbirds and a solitary cow elk on the trail. Met a few hikes on the trail this morning. Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 54 (Wind Chill: 54) End Temp: 60 I hiked 2 hours and 01 moving minutes and logged 5.20 miles of trail on a nice mild windless, foggy morning. I started my hike at 7:00am. Muggy overcast weather this morning. Not many animals out today. I saw Bison and Longhorn Cattle while driving in. Only Songbirds and Geese on my hike. The surprise of the morning were several Tom Turkeys on the trail. There was a lone fisherman on French Lake. Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 50 (Wind Chill: 50) End Temp: 54 ![]() I hiked 2 hours and 14 moving minutes and logged 5.35 miles of trail on a very very beautiful morning. I started my hike at 8:00am. The hog hunters had their helicopter over at Elk Mountain this morning. Not many animals out today. I did see some Bison and Long Horn Cattle on my drive in. On the trail I saw Geese, songbirds, an Eagle and the surprise of the day was a Beaver that swam right up to me. Did meet some other hikers as I left the trail this morning. My birthday was this week so I posted a hiking trail birthday photo... Wow! 62 and getting paid to hike.. Life is Great! Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 48 (Wind Chill: 45) End Temp: 60 I hiked 2 hours and 19 moving minutes and logged 5.24 miles of trail on a very beautiful and cool morning. I started my hike at 7:30am. The Dog Run Hollow area was open again this morning as the hog reduction project moved over to the Mt Scott area. I saw some Bison and Long Horn driving in this morning but did not see any large animals on the trail this morning. I did see lots of songbirds and geese while hiking. Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 35 (Wind Chill: 31) End Temp: 52 I hiked 2 hours and 04 moving minutes and logged 4.75 miles of trail on a very nice and cool morning. I was going to hike at the Wichita Wildlife Refuge this morning but found all the trails closed for eradication of wild hogs so I changed locations to Lake Murray. Got a late start so I just did the minimum 2-hours. Saw some geese, songbirds and some deer and raccoon tracks. We will see where I hike tomorrow. Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 38 (Wind Chill: 33) End Temp: 50 I hiked 2 hours and 10 moving minutes and logged 5.19 miles of trail on a very very wet and cool morning. I started my hike at 7:30am. It has been raining off and on all night. The trail was wet but passable... Rain all morning. Even sleeted a little. Not many animals out today. The rain has everything laid down this morning. I did see a Long Horn, wild turkeys and a few geese and songbirds. My surprise for the morning was a Great Blue Heron. Weather during hike:
Rain Rain Rain Start Temp: 39 (Wind Chill: 29) End Temp: 39 Weather Note: We had snow flurries in the afternoon... Glade I like hiking in the mornings! I hiked 2 hours and 23 moving minutes and logged 5.22 miles of trail on a cloudy and cool morning. I started my hike at 7:00am. I fell at the farm yesterday and hurt my back but as I stated in the challenge there is no excuse for not hiking so I did this morning. I hiked the Buffalo Trail from the French Lake Trail-head clockwise to the Lost Lake Trail-head and then turned around and returned to my Jeep. This is a flatter section of the trail so it wasn't as bad on my back. Not many animals out today. The big and bright moon probably had something to do with it. I did see a Bison and a few White Tail Deer. It started to rain a little just after I finished the hike. Weather during hike:
Cloudy and overcast Start Temp: 43 (Wind Chill: 38) End Temp: 47 I hiked 2 hours and 07 moving minutes and logged 5.41 miles of trail on a very very windy and cool morning. I started my hike at 6:00am. I used my headlamp with the red light for the first third of my hike. The moon was bright and I could see but the head lamp filled in the shadows and let me avoid rocks, holes and tree roots. In other words it helped me keep from busting my ass.... Not many animals out today. The wind had everything laid down this morning. I did see a Bison and a few White Tail Deer toward the end of the hike. The wind was strong enough that I was unable to keep my hat on and it almost blew me off my feet a few times. No other hikers on the trail while I was out. Weather during hike:
WINDY WINDY WINDY Start Temp: 51 (Wind Chill: 38) End Temp: 48 Wind Gust: 52 I hiked 2 hours and 25 moving minutes and logged 6.50 miles of trail on a very beautiful morning. I started my hike at 6:10am. I got an early start because it is suppose to get warm today and I also wanted to catch the full moon sitting. I saw lots of animals this morning and used a headlamp for the first hour of the hike. I saw Bison, Elk, Deer, Song Birds, Ducks, Geese and heard a lot of turkey's calling as well as coyotes before daylight. The moon sitting and sunrise were beautiful. Finished just as the weekend hikers were getting started. Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 51 (Wind Chill: 51) End Temp: 59 I hiked 2 hours and 38 moving minutes and logged 6.54 miles of trail on a very mild but windy morning. I started my hike at 8:00am. I saw Long Horn Cattle, Song Birds, White Tail Deer, Geese, Elk and a Coyote. Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 41 (Wind Chill: 38) End Temp: 61 I hiked 2 hours and 37 moving minutes and logged 6.53 miles of trail on a very cool but windless morning. I started the hike at 7:20am. I saw a few animals on the trail this morning. They included, Bison, White Tailed Deer, Elk, Song Birds, Crows and the surprise of the morning was a River Otter in the creek below the French Lake Dam. This hike marks the Half Way Point in the 40-Day Challenge. So far I have not missed a day of hiking and I have met the minimum 2-hour requirement and I have not consumed any alcoholic beverage during this 20-day period..... Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 27 (Wind Chill: 19) End Temp: 35 I hiked 2 hours and 24 moving minutes and logged 6.41 miles of trail on a very windy and cold morning. I started my hike at 7:30am. There were no other hikers out this morning but I did see Bison, White Tail Deer Elk and Song Birds. Saw some animals laying down out of the wind. Even though it was a cold morning, it was still an enjoyable hike. All my years of hunting have taught me how to dress for the elements so today was just another day to me. Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 33 (Wind Chill: 17) End Temp: 35 I hiked 2 hours and 05 moving minutes and logged 5.49 miles of trail this morning - The weather was mild with very little wind. I started my hike at 7:20am. I saw Geese, Bison, White Tail Deer, Song Birds and for the first time at the Refuge a Covey of Quail. Weather during hike:
Start Temp: 51 (Wind Chill: 51) End Temp: 62 I hiked 2 hours and 18 moving minutes and logged 5.50 miles of trail on a very FOGGY morning - I got a started hiking at 7:20am. No other hikers this morning. The fog was heavier this morning than yesterday. I saw Cow Elk, Geese, Crows, Song Birds, White Tail Deer and Bison on the trail this morning. Weather during hike:
FOG FOG FOG Start Temp: 46 (Wind Chill: 44) End Temp: 51 |
"of all of the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt"!
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