Friday, December 25, 2015

Wyman Christmas Letter 2015 PartV



The Short Cut (Known to But a Few)

I (David) still tramp about in the local woods, and hope to do 5x more of it when I retire.  I have given up mapping the little-used trails (yes, I know there's an app for that) hoping that they embed in my brain instead.  So far, so good.  I nervously wonder about carrying a spray against bears and coydogs. Sometimes a son hikes with me, or granddaughters to pick wild berries.  Ben came out into the wild both times he was home.  Bowhunting season ends this week, so Chris can safely join me when I go back to "my" woods after three months. There is a joy in familiar trails, and a different joy in getting yourself safely out when you're not quite sure. Whenever I go seriously uphill I am still aware of the old damage from smoking, even years later.  If any of you come to visit, I have an extra walking stick.

6 comments:

  1. A very Merry Christmas to you and your family!

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  2. Hiking sticks are good to have, lending balance and support, and particularly useful if you need to whack something. Trekking poles are better for me, but not for whacking, and much more expensive than a stick.

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  3. Nothing like the allure of the Forest.

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  4. Merry Christmas! Now, as to those coydogs....do you really think spray will keep them away? I read that bears in some places are developing a taste for pepper spray (much as we enjoy nachos: mmmm mmmm spicy hiker for lunch!) This may be an internet piece of rubbish, of course...but I am worried about coy dogs where we hike also, and our big dog will frankly attract them (barks at em all the time). so have been walking a LOT less in the woods since we saw that 70 pounder this fall (we hear the pack making their horrid noises). I've been sweetly cooing at my better half "I think Irish wolfhounds might be a solution when we retire: ornamental at home, and lethal roaming the property..." Himself is NOT amused...

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  5. Yeah, and we have a dachshund, which is an attractant, not a deterrent, I would think.

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  6. Rev. Sensing. Then you _would_ have "a dog in the fight" :-)

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