If You Are Reading This I am Still Alive

On one of my days off last week I did a hike along the St. James Walkway (a section of the Lewis Pass about 45 minutes from Crappalvania) called the Cannibal Gorge Swing Bridge Track. How attractive is that name? I couldn’t resist it. It is a sensational walk through forests and over streams of rushing water down to a deceivingly stable swing bridge. ‘Down’ is the key word there. I started the walk full of energy and enthusiasm which at some point turned into concern and self loathing as I realized I was walking down and down and down and down further into the forest and further away from the car that could take me to the nearest couch.

I kept on walking, down, and tried not to think about the fact that I would have to climb back up. I have a bum knee and I use a proper walking stick to assist me in stepping down steep parts, to help pull myself back up those steep parts and to lean on after. I tend to fall down a lot, which is why my knee is bad. I don’t need anything solid to trip over either. If I am not tripping on my own feet I find that air is my biggest obstacle. I have fallen down so many times while hiking that I no longer get hurt because I have learnt to just go with the fall. I have cool looking scars because of it. I am happy to say I didn’t fall down once on this hike.

I reached the gorge in good time and hung out for a while swaying on the swing bridge. I put off the hike back up as long as I could. Every couple of steps I asked myself “Why the hell do you do this? Are you insane?” It was sunny, about 28 degrees and the humidity made me sweat out the equivalent of a small child. These hikes sound like a good idea when I am at home in the crap flat sipping on a glass of wine and enjoying a nice BBQ’d steak dinner but while doing them I am cursing myself the entire time. Still, I strap on my little boots and drag myself up and down and down and up these tracks and afterwards I am totally spent, smelly and filthy. It’s great and I can’t wait to do it again.

I am not a professional hiker or a mountain climber; I can’t do any hikes in the suggested posted times because I am just not that fit and if you were to hike with me you would get frustrated because I just amble along, often falling and appreciating the scenery all the while day dreaming in my own little world. But I try, like always.