Tourist in the Forest

There's a technical term for an almost-rhyme, which I cannot unfortunately remember right now. But hey, it's a damn good title anyways.

As part of my quest to not (only) sit in my house and do nothing, I've joined a knitting listserv and a hiking listserv. The knitters are supernice, but up until now, the hikers have been a little more about "Hey! Look at what we did last weekend!" than "Hey! Anyone want to do anything next weekend?" But someone posted about a short hike, less than a half-hour's drive away, and I decided to go. I'm sure that I looked like a total urban moron using my Saturday Market Bag as a trail bag, but I couldn't find a suitable backpack amongst my boxes. (And, the meshiness of the bag keeps it from gluing itself to you uncomfortably.) The only downside to that decision is that my poor bag is starting to look a little tired -- the yarn doesn't wear too well, but I knew that when I made it. I think that I'll make a trail bag (kinda like those tacky mini-backpacks) using the Market Bag lace pattern and a more trail-suitable yarn. Like camo acrylic. Ah, the fashion horribleness that awaits.

It was a pretty easy hike (3.25 miles, minimal hills, surrounded by trees). Not too photogenic, but here are a couple of decent shots.

This is a limestone kiln from the 1800s. Not very pro-environmental because it required tons of trees to provide enough heat to burn limestone, and then some pretty unfriendly methods of acquiring said limestone. Looks cool these days though.

A little ledge of rock. My further-away view didn't turn out too well.

And it's hard to tell from this shot -- the stuff in the top half of the picture is wet and the stuff in the bottom half is dry. The stream goes underground for a while and I thought it was nifty.