Saturday, March 18, 2017

Long Hot Mount Wichita Walk Turns Me Into An Old Man

Today, soon after discussing Elsie Hotpepper's serious issues with Laundry, I mistakenly thought it a good idea to go on a long, long, long walk.

The long, long, long walk idea seemed to be a good one due to the sudden appearance of summer-like HEAT. As in heat in the 80 to 90 degree zone, which feels HOT, after this long chilly winter.

So, I walked to Lake Wichita.

From my abode, to the scene you see here of a group of fisher men, women and children, fishing from  the one and only Lake Wichita floating fishing dock, I had walked a couple miles.

By the time I reached the top of the Lake Wichita Dam and looked down on the above fishing scene, and Mount Wichita, in the distance, I thought continuing on with my walk, with Mount Wichita as the goal, seemed like a good idea at the time.

Continuing north on the dam I looked back at the floating dock and the boat you see below, floating among the remains of the Lake Wichita Pavilion which burned down in the 1950s.


The Circle Trail is what one walks on to cross Lake Wichita Dam.


It is a long walk across the dam til one eventually reaches the Circle Trail dam exit which leads to the Mount Wichita pseudo volcanic cone.


The above is a scene soon after the Circle Trail leaves the dam. That is a biker you see rolling across that bridge. I had never seen so many people at Lake Wichita as I saw today. Dozens upon dozens of walkers, joggers, bikers, bladers, skateboarders, boaters and those aforementioned people with fishing poles.

The above is the last photo I was able  to take before my camera told me its battery needed re-charging. So, I switched to using my phone to take a couple more pictures.


I currently have my phone's camera set to "Spring Scene" mode. I mention this and having to switch to using the phone, so as to explain the change in the look of the photos, with the photos now looking like what, in Fort  Worth, is known as Luenserizing a photo.


A Luenserized photo is a photo which sort of alters reality. The above is a good example  of Luenserizing a scene, with the resulting photo looking more like a water color painting than a photograph, and not looking all that much like that which my eyes saw.


The last of the Luenserized phone photos shows no one on Mount Wichita. That is a bit ironic, because as soon as I saw Mount Wichita  today I could see people climbing the mountain. A lot of people. But, with none in sight by the time I took the above photo.

So, why did this walk to Mount Wichita turn out to be a bad idea today?

Well, I estimate the total walking mileage to be around 6 or 7 miles. Walked at a fast pace, but not really all that fast.

By the time I got back to my abode I was dragging, feet hurting, exhausted.

At some point during this ordeal I realized I have now become an elderly person, sort of. I used to get a bit impatient  with certain individuals whilst at locations such as Disneyland or Las Vegas, due to the certain individuals complaining about getting worn out from too much walking.

I have never found  myself complaining about getting worn out from too much walking at Disneyland or Las Vegas.

Today I realized Disneyland or Las Vegas would exhaust me if I enjoyed either like I used to. I have not been to Disneyland since Christmas of 1994. I have not been to Las Vegas since some time in 2000. I have been to Six Flags Over  Texas in Arlington a couple times this century, and did not find the experience to be exhausting. A bit boring, but not exhausting. But, Six Flags is no Disneyland, hence not tiring.

I suspect I will be being a bit depressed now, for a few days, as I come to terms with this new reality of realizing I am virtually a decrepit old man....

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