Getting Out

I called a friend yesterday and he asked me what I was up to. I said, I'm gong for a hike. He said, where, with who? I said Corvallis, with me. He kind of laughed, like who goes hiking by themselves. But I've been going hiking by myself nearly every day after work for a while now. I love it. Sometimes I go with someone, but really I actually prefer to go alone. There are so many beautiful trails around Corvallis, I've been using this book. I was going to try to do them all, I've probably done around 10, there are 60 in the book. I end up going back to my favorites. Sometimes I think, oh I've done that one a few times, maybe I'll get bored with it, maybe it's not as pretty as I remembered. But they are as pretty as I remember, and I see something different every time I go. Yesterday I saw two different pink flowers I didn't recognize, along with these teeny tiny spiders, they looked like ants, but they were unbelievably fast and shimmered metallic purpley pink. Not too far up the trail I saw a ground beetle the exact same shade of purple.
The bugs are starting to come out, I got my first legitimate bite yesterday. To me it meant it was officially summer. I was walking back and it was about 7 pm, the sun was still high, and the breeze was warm and I couldn't help but think that nothing beats a summer evening. I started going out hiking in February, and really it's not bad if it's not too rainy or windy or cold. But as nice as those early days are with no bugs and no people, it doesn't compare to long days, sunshine and perfect temperatures.
Also on the way back I saw the 3 Sisters in the distance, all snowy and beautiful. I don't know how I would survive in a city, with no escape to the forest. It is a life line for me. I am excited to live in Eugene and have all those trails and hills nearby for exploration. The landscape is so different for only being an hour away.
In other news I am blogging this early because I am an idiot. I woke up at 6:27, and thought, oh my alarm is going to go off soon, I'll just turn the radio on and slowly wake up. I had the hardest time waking up this morning, usually it only takes me 15 minutes to be up and moving. This morning it took me half an hour. Well I took a shower and got out and looked at the clock, 7:06? I had been off by an hour, I could have slept another hour. Not thrilled.