Dilemma for the day
The hiking trail was a 5-mile loop.
It turned out that after about two miles, one finds oneself back in the parking lot again before the second half of the loop begins.
It was a little buggy and I was getting sweaty and the car called to me, so I got in and drove home. (Thing I discovered as a result of this: The grocery store is ridiculously busy at 10:30 AM on a Sunday. "I hate you all," I thought pleasantly. "Also shouldn't you do restocking sometime when the store isn't full of shoppers?")
Anyway, here is my dilemma: Do I get to say that I've done that trail, or do I have to go back and do the remaining three miles? I suspect the landscape is pretty similar, so it's not like I'm likely to miss the OMG amazing vista or whatever. It's southeastern Massachusetts. I don't think we have vistas that aren't on the seashore.
(It was pitch pine/scrub oak, mostly, which is an ecosystem I have some fondness for due to a summer job I had in college, but it isn't the kind of thing that leads to the prettiest trails ever. If I do go back, I clearly need to go during blueberry season, because almost the entire trail was hip-deep in what I'm pretty sure were lowbush blueberries. I did see a couple of Pink Lady's Slippers right along the edge of the trail itself, which was neat. I do hope they don't get picked by some passerby.)
ETA: Augh deer tick augh! I'm pretty sure it crawled onto my hand just now while I was putting away my backpack, though--I gave myself a once-over and showered right after I got home, and it wasn't attached when I saw it. Now I'm going to be itchy all evening, though. Stupid Lyme disease.
It turned out that after about two miles, one finds oneself back in the parking lot again before the second half of the loop begins.
It was a little buggy and I was getting sweaty and the car called to me, so I got in and drove home. (Thing I discovered as a result of this: The grocery store is ridiculously busy at 10:30 AM on a Sunday. "I hate you all," I thought pleasantly. "Also shouldn't you do restocking sometime when the store isn't full of shoppers?")
Anyway, here is my dilemma: Do I get to say that I've done that trail, or do I have to go back and do the remaining three miles? I suspect the landscape is pretty similar, so it's not like I'm likely to miss the OMG amazing vista or whatever. It's southeastern Massachusetts. I don't think we have vistas that aren't on the seashore.
(It was pitch pine/scrub oak, mostly, which is an ecosystem I have some fondness for due to a summer job I had in college, but it isn't the kind of thing that leads to the prettiest trails ever. If I do go back, I clearly need to go during blueberry season, because almost the entire trail was hip-deep in what I'm pretty sure were lowbush blueberries. I did see a couple of Pink Lady's Slippers right along the edge of the trail itself, which was neat. I do hope they don't get picked by some passerby.)
ETA: Augh deer tick augh! I'm pretty sure it crawled onto my hand just now while I was putting away my backpack, though--I gave myself a once-over and showered right after I got home, and it wasn't attached when I saw it. Now I'm going to be itchy all evening, though. Stupid Lyme disease.