St. Mary's Falls

I left the house at 6:20am and headed over to pick up Eric.  We were in the Gold Camp Drive parking lot at 7:20.  We were the first ones on the trail this morning.  It was cold and windy when we started.    It stayed that way until we got off the road and caught the trail head.

I put my MicroSpikes (http://www.pogu-spikes.com/) on once we hit the tunnel.  This is the first time I used them.  There was quit a bit of ice still on the trail and we had a light dusting this morning.  Eric didn’t put his on until we reach the top and figured he better have them on for the descent.

Saw some rabbit tracks but no rabbits.  We did come across several chipmunks chattering away up in the trees.  One chipmunk was running up the trail with a big pine cone in his mouth.

We managed to get six miles in round trip.  We climbed 1,401ft with an average moving time of 2.3/MPH.   Total hiking time was two hours and forty minuets.   I did manage to snag a couple of pictures today and have included them.

We reached the top of the falls at about 8:40am.   We thought about having our sandwiches but with the wind blowing it was to cold to stop moving.  The falls were covered with ice.  I ventured out a little ways but didn’t go to far.

We worked our way back down moving at a pretty good pace.  On the way down we ran into two other hikers working there way up.

Happy Hiking!

Mary A. Clark

Oh man (big sigh), not even sure where to start as it seems like it has been so long. I started off the first of the year with a bang! I had already logged just over 20/miles by the 12th. Then I had to hit the road and my walking came to halt. I kept telling myself to make the time but I just didn’t. Spent a week in Austin and then had to make a run up to Wichita, Ks.

On January 22nd 2012 my grandmother Mary A. Clark passed away at the age of 87 and the funeral was held on Friday the 27th. She packed the church with family and friends! Growing up in rural Kansas in the 1930’s on a farm. She always had a thirst for knowledge and when you tell your kids that you had to walk to school in the snow uphill both ways, well that’s how it really was for her.

At the funeral the minister said that he asked her children about her and memories that they had. They all came back and referred to her as their GOOGLE. When the preacher said that, I sat there in the pew with my draw dropped as that was the perfect definition. She knew everything about almost every subject.

I would go to Kansas in the summers while growing up and I would stay at her house. I remember her always working a crossword, putting together puzzles, playing chess and other games. In her kitchen she had a large room with a long table, needed it for raising 10 kids. Anyway there would be thousand piece puzzle on the table that everyone worked on. Family and friends always visiting who would add a piece or two as they came and went. Good times!

The following is from obituary in The Wichita Eagle.

Mary A. Clark
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kansas/obituary.aspx?n=mary-a-clark&pid=155617262&fhid=11129

Clark, Mary A., 87, retired co-owner of Scotty Clark Plumbing, passed away Jan. 22, 2012. Rosary 6:30 p.m. Thursday; Mass 11 a.m. Friday, both at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, 2007 N. Arkansas, Wichita 67203. Mary was preceded in death by her parents, "Jack" and Agnes Ridder, husband, "Sharkey," brothers and sisters-in-law, Tom Ridder (Jeannie), Larry Ridder (Mary); sister, Anita Ridder; daughter-in-law, Debbie Clark; grandson, Tommy Clark; great-grandson, Anthony Marsh. Survivors: sons, Mike Clark, Scotty (Charlie) Clark, Jan Clark, Pat (Paula) Clark, Eddie (Pam) Clark, Tommy (Peggy) Clark; daughters, Goldie (Dennis) Robinson, Carolyn (Mike) McClellan, Lisa (Ron) Land, Rosie (Jeff) Creekmore; brothers, David (Jo) Ridder, Jerry (Pat) Ridder; sisters, Sr. Helen Ridder, Esther Oliverson; 28 grandchildren; 38 great-grandchildren; 1 great-great-grandchild.

A few days back I loaded http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ on my IPhone. I have been using it now for 5 days. It tracks what I eat and the calories as well as my exercise and calories burned. I am set to 1650 calories a day. When you start looking at this way, it sure makes me consider what I am eating. I have already lost a couple of pounds, so we will see how it goes. I logged into their website and you can build some reporting that graphs out calories burned, calories consumed and others.

Once I get a little data loaded ill add some charts to the blog showing my progress.

Happy Hiking!