Gordon Way Training Hike

Yesterday was a beautiful day spent out hill walking and training for my upcoming Caledonian Challenge.  Our original plan was to hike Mt Keen but with "winter" still hanging in there and signs of spring taking their time to become obvious we changed our plans.

As of yesterday morning when we set off from the trail head parking lot we were going to complete the entire trail called Gordon Way or at least as far as we could since it's 20 miles round trip.  Since I had been up at Bennachie the previous weekend I knew how much snow had been there.  Given that we had a mild week of warmer (above freezing) temperatures and very little precipitation we felt that the trail of Gordon Way would be passable without too much trouble.  And it was, at the beginning!  We soon found that there was still a lot of snow, and you could and would often fall into a weak spot up to your knee.  There was one point I fell in all the way up to the middle of my right thigh!!  I had to have Simon and Anna pull me out because I was too deep in the snow to move.

Needless to say we decided to modify our route back to the car park via roads at lower elevation that would be clear of snow.  All in all it was a great day for a walk and we covered at least 12.13 miles.  I know it was longer than that my but my Garmin GPS watch battery decided to give up the ghost and die before we reached the trail head parking lot.

Needless to say we didn't make our 20 mile goal but the way my body is feeling this morning I'm glad we didn't!  Kady is glad too since she is really exhausted this morning and limping a bit from muscle fatigue in her front left leg.  I'm now a bit concerned that I will be able to do the 54 miles in 24 hours in June.  I guess I better get out there and do more hill walks and longer ones.  I think anything over 10 miles though and I'll have to leave Kady at home.  She's no spring chicken anymore and is quickly approaching 9 years old.  I still see her as a puppy who has endless energy and can do anything I do.  It makes me sad to know that she isn't.

Anyway here are some pictures of our walk and a video of Kady rolling in the snow, her favorite thing to do!  Also if you would like to sponsor my teams efforts in the Caledonian Challenge this is the link to do so.  A big thanks to all of you who already have sponsored my team!!

The snow has melted a lot but there is still quite a bit on the trail

Most of the surrounding hills were covered in snow just a week ago.

Trail signs

Still quite a bit of snow at Bennachie

Kady enjoying her walk

Simon, Anna and Colin trekking along

Colin toppled over at one point

Lamb season!

They are so cute when they are jumping around

Awesome tree house on the way back

Much better minus the snow on the way back

Kady leading the way back to the parking lot

Our route tracked by my GPS watch until it died.

Sunday's are for lazy days!