Slip, sliding...into ravines

Saturday, January 08, 2011

Kids these days. Now…when I was just a wee tot and was given the choice between hanging at home and playing video games with a couple of friends or going to the Metroparks to hike in the woods and throw snowballs at my dad…well…okay…they not only didn’t have video games when I was little…but had just invented TV. Still…

John came over with Teri’s two sons, Alex and Scott. They’d brought an Ipod and Playstation III…or something like that. Jack already had every cool video game known to man, so they were going to hang out while John and I did a severe workout hike in the Metropark. We did ask them to go along and Jack did inquire as to the packability of the snow…but it was only halfhearted.

I’d already ridden 60 minutes that morning, so this would be my bonus workout. We’d done the marsh hike last weekend, so I wanted to show him something different and angled instead towards the Chagrin River lookout hike. It’s a great hike because it’s in an area visited by few and offering a fine view of the river from a bluff about 100 feet above. I often stop when reaching the observation point to watch the fishermen working the currents and pools far below me. A short distance beyond is a sledding hill and it was in full operation. Dakota would have liked nothing better than to chase a few sledders down the hill, so we needed to skirt the area through the woods to its side.

We made our way to the ridge overlooking Squires Castle and followed some trails along that ridge heading south. “We need to get back down there,” I said, indicating the valley below us, “and I don’t mean on a trail.”

“Let’s go,” John said.

The slope between the ridges was quite steep, but there would be all kinds of saplings to grab as we made our way down. It’s more like skiing in boots than walking and the ascent went rather quickly…for me. I heard John bringing up the rear. “ Wait a min…ohhhhh…shitttt,” By the time I turned to look, he was sliding on his butt grabbing at saplings and downed logs as he went…rather ungracefully. I reached for my camera to catch the action…but he came to a sudden stop when he hooked a tree. Too bad. I love getting pictures of John doing ridiculous things, though I’m sure I’ll have more chances soon.

We reached bottom without further incident where I gave him a choice. “We could climb back up this hill…it’s the one we use for the Back to Basic workout…and then slide down the other side to the girl scout cabins…or take the wuss way and just walk over there on that path,” I indicated the easy way with a disdainful wave of my hand.

He thought about it for about as long as it had taken him to fall on his ass on the previous hill and said, “I vote for the ‘wuss’ way.” Reluctantly, I did what he asked.

I managed to break a sweat on the hike since there was 6 inches of snow and we did a lot of off-trail hiking. I don’t know as I’d go so far as to call it a workout, but since we walked for 90 minutes, I did burn a lot of calories. Even without a pack, the way I dress and with the heavy boots, I can manage to get my heart rate up to between 70-80 beats a minute and keep it there. Walking with John passes the time even faster since we have so much about which we can disagree…being right can be a curse. Going off-trail always makes it more challenging…and beautiful. Challenging because no one has packed down the snow and there are so many obstacles to go over and around, and beautiful because we’re normally the only ones that have been there to see the virgin snow before us on the ground. Hopefully, the snow will continue to fall and keep my secondary workout courses in fine shape. Next week: new ravines for John to fall into…

Bike duration: 60 minutes. Hike duration: 90 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 130 biking. 75 hiking.
Calories burned during workout: 900 biking. 450 hiking.