Susan is an amazing hike leader. Not only does she clearly convey what we will encounter on our hike, she walks the "extra mile" and ensures our safety. Even though she had pre-hiked this route near Bewdley earlier in the week, she chose to pre-hike it AGAIN yesterday to make sure it wasn't too slippery for us.
And.... she looks like a leader. Who wouldn't follow someone they don't know down random country roads and up narrow forest trails who wears that touque?
We left the Bewdley overflow parking lot and headed east on Rice Lake Drive.
It wasn't long before we entered the Rice Lake Conservation Area.
For a lot of that section we needed to avoid the middle of the trail.
Even in the woods there still was a little bit of ice to be found.
Don't you love it when hikers wear bright colours in the winter? Like those purples?
Today's sponsor is the colour purple.
This hike is rated <EASY>. This was the steepest hill. Not much of a hill.
Susan gave us lots of time to catch up to the hikers ahead of us, catch our breaths if we needed to, and catch up with each other. Ahhh... people in purple talking. I think the locals were impressed.....
......... "Purple people!"
Some of us took the time to connect with nearby trees......
...... while others were enticed to sit on a bench .... any random bench ..... that matched what they were wearing. 🥴
This bench is on one of our hiker's property which just happened to be on the route. How convenient.
One of our hikers had a good insight into why one should hike, even on dismal days like today. It went something like this:
It's a gloomy day.
I might as well hike.
The day will still look gloomy,
but I will have gotten out in nature,
had some exercise and met some interesting peopl.e.
And, thanks to our trusted leader, we found our way out of a "No Exit" road.
I've never been able to get into J.K. Rowlings books, but I think this quote is appropriate for today's post:
“It is a curious thing, Harry,
but perhaps those who are best suited to power
are those who have never sought it.
Those who, like you,
have leadership thrust upon them,
and take up the mantle because they must,
and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.”
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