My Walk

Saturday I walked 8 miles on the Airline Trail.

(The Air Line Rail Trail is a 22 mile rail trail in Eastern Connecticut on the former tracks of the New Haven, Middletown & Willimantic Railroad. The railroad was called the Air Line because it was the straightest route from Boston to NY. The trail environment is diverse with forest, streams and wetlands.)
I just had to go out again today. It was in the 80's and the sun was peaking out (after a morning of rain). I needed to walk off some of the lingering leg pain. I didn't get to go far enough on Saturday...I didn't get to see everything I wanted to see.....I just had to go out again today.

Saturday I walked to Route 2. So today, I drove to the spot I stopped and picked up the trail. There are 22 miles total and I want to walk every last one. I only walked about an hour and a half today. As my legs were starting to burn and my feet hurt from the blisters, I looked down and saw my ipod was running low....I MADE myself turn around. I wanted to keep going. There is something new and different around every bend. Will there be a bridge? A creek? Rock formations? Open sunshine? Flowers? What will be around each bend? I'll have to continue another day...I have all summer to discover my new trail. I'll spare you the 2 minute video and just post a few photos I got along the way. Here is what I saw today. It's just so wooded...there's hardly any "getting a suntan" while walking this trail. It's tree-lined for sure:

But occasionally through the trees, you get these great sights....a river, a little waterfall, a farm or house, a swamp with flowering lilly pads:

There were a few houses along the trail. These two chairs were in a giant backyard. I had two thoughts. 1. Wow, what a LOVELY place to live. You can look out onto this beautiful scenery. How nice to sit out and drink lemonade in the spring and summer and watch your grandchildren play in the grass. How nice to sip a warm cup of tea or coffee in the morning in the fall and look out at the gorgeous leaves....

2. Wow, I bet you get a lot of "creatures" from spiders to snakes to all sorts of bugs coming out of these woods.

Oh to be a 12 year old boy (or Nancy) and veer off without fear onto the unknown trail. I wonder what's back there just waiting to be discovered. But alas, I am Kimberly Oakes and I was too afraid of above mentioned "creatures" to veer off. Besides I didn't want to mess up my pedicure:

Yeah! A bridge. I just love going around a bend and to find a bridge waiting to be crossed:

Where there's a bridge, there is usually rushing water....the sounds...the smells....I always stop and stare at it all for a while:

This photo doesn't in any way capture it, but there are spots where the path is filled with moss covered rocks. The best way I can think to explain it (and forgive me for the silliness of this) is the Six Flags Spelunker Cave. Do you remember that ride? Remember standing in line in the Texas heat and you get on that little boat and takes you into the dark cave....the temperature drops about 15 degrees (which feels more like 30 degrees when you are out of the sun) and there is that musty, damp, moldy smell? It's just like that. You are walking along and for about 200 steps, you are in a completely different world. The sights, the smells, even the temperature is different. It's so amazing. Then you walk on and back into the sun and the fields again:

And that ends this walk.....I am foreseeing many more in the future. My goal this summer is to go the whole 22 miles. (I'm just not letting my feet know that quite yet.)