Pat Bean's blog

      “Happy trails to you, until we meet again. Happy trails to you, keep smilin’ until then. Who cares about the clouds when we’re together? Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather’ .Happy trails to you, ’till we meet again. Some trails are happy ones, others are blue. It’s the way you ride the trail that counts, here’s a happy one for you.”  — Dale Evans

Take a Hike

Back in my youthful 40s, I did a couple of 10-miile hikes in Kauai’s Waimea Canyon, aka Hawaii’s Grand Canyon. — Wikipedia Photo

I got to sing the above lyrics last week when I attended the promotion celebration of two of  my Tucson Elementary grandsons at Coyote Elementary. It’s their school song.

I can’t hear it without an image of my childhood hero, Roy Rogers, popping into my brain. It was his theme song.

It’s also an appropriate song to sing today because of it being National Trails Day, an event that takes place annually on the first Saturday of June. This year all 50 states have planned events to celebrate it.

I did my own celebrating this morning as I took a longer-than-usual easy walk with Pepper in sight of Arizona’s Catalina Mountains. As I walked, still babying my ankle that I broke earlier this year, I thought back to when I was capable of hiking 20 miles in a day.

This morning I took delight in a blooming ocotillo, which until it flowers looks like little more than a bunch of sticks stuck together in the ground. — Photo by Pat Bean

I only did that long a hike a few times, much preferring to do a more enjoyable 10 miles, which eventually dropped to five miles as time caught up with my body. The truth, however, is that the slower my steps became the more enjoyment came with each of them.

I had time to marvel at the ladybug on the underside of a leaf, to watch the tadpoles swimming in a pool of water in a shallow brook and to take time to photograph a flitting butterfly.

So, Happy Trails to everyone, whether they be short or long, or easy or hard. It’s all good.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Tinkers Creek http://tinyurl.com/jw4jquu This would certainly be on my places to hike list if I lived anywhere near its Ohio location.