Ministik Loop Hike From Deadfall Alley to the UofA Road
Either one of these factors should have stopped me from walking those very seldom traveled trails, but I was so in need of a walk in the wilds that I forgot common sense and went anyway.
It’s difficult not to sink into a “whine-fest” while describing my experience today. It’s just that the experience I was hoping for and the actual experience were so very different. I intended on practicing the mindset of “being in the moment” as I walked, not necessarily walking to get somewhere but walking simply to experience the moment. As the saying goes,
Do what you’re doing when you’re doing it;
Be where you are when you’re there.
But the reality today was that the trails were so overgrown that by far the majority of my attention was spent either trying to make sure I didn’t face-plant by tripping over a fallen log or deciding if I was still on a trail or indeed bushwhacking off-trail.
I slowly made my way though, and after finding a geocache, reached “Dead Fall Alley” and followed that with head bowed, constantly staring at the ground to see when I should step over the numerous fallen trees the “Alley” is named for.
Eventually, I arrived at what I call “The Northeast Passage” and almost didn’t recognize it because of the amount of vegetation spilling out onto what is usually an ample trail here. A large gate that stood in tact when I first encountered it in 2015 is slowly being broken down and reclaimed by nature.
| First Time at the Gate | Nature Begins to Erase the Gate | Nature is Enveloping the Gate |
|---|---|---|
Most of the images I took today are completely uninteresting shots of walls of vegetation in front of me. I’m sorry about that, but that’s all I had in front of me to take a photo of! This section is when my fun-o-meter1 went into negative numbers, and the most common thought knocking around in my brain was, “What have I gotten myself into now?”
Heat exhaustion started affect me. It was tough pushing through all this vegetation, like wading through 1 km of thick pea soup in 32°C heat. I started to take more frequent rests in any shade I could find and I was so glad I’d brought enough of water to at least try to keep hydrated. My body was telling me that I was a losing battle though.
And the meters now seemed to fly by until I reached the parking spot again.
My Route Today#
The image markers show where I took photos today. Click the marker to view the photo.
Gallery#
Most of the photos I took today are clearly of nothing but masses of the green - and sometimes bristling with thistle-fluff white - vegitation in front of me. That doesn’t make for very interesting photos, but it does document the reality of my experience today.
