Four days, 33 miles, toads, sweat, hills, beauty.

Frontenac State Park, MN on Lake Pepin

Memorial Day weekend is over and I'm proud to say, Team Roger got in 33-miles of practice/training hikes in four days. We tried to hit every kind of terrain and weather we might find on the Rob Roy Way, and we certainly found the hills if not Highland mountains. One thing we feel fairly certain about is that we probably won't hit 90-degrees in Scotland. We can't rule out anything, of course, but the muggy, buggy Minnesota summer isn't likely to follow us across the pond. (70's and sunny would be lovely, however!) The last blog went into flooded detail about our Friday hike of nine miles at Old Cedar Avenue Bridge.

Saturday was supposed to be longer but was another nine-miler in, literally, our very favorite Minnesota State Park. Frontenac SP is in the southeast almost-corner of Minnesota along Lake Pepin (a large, wide lake formed by and in the Mississippi River) and is just plain a beautiful place. Betty and I find it has the most peaceful spirit along with many many steps down to the lake and river and back up, bluff walks, and the feeling you're walking through an enchanted green fairy realm with moss-covered rocks, logs, and fern-filled valleys. 

 

Enchanted Forest

Cap and Betty in a little Fern Gully

We made our longest hike of 11.5 miles on Sunday at an urban park reserve called Elm Creek. This was our hottest walk although it began in a slight rain. Cap and Scout scoffed at any use of rain gear, but Betty and I just had to model our Patagonia and Frogg Toggs storm couture. 

This was a hike filled with lovely water, woods and prairie, goofing around, breaking the rules, and some wildlife. Check out my little toad friend, our flying trumpeter swans, the Trail Closed sign and Cap and I with our fancy hats.

My toad friend was not amused.

Trumpeter swans taking flight.

Trail Closed. We went through anyway.

A

Babs' and Cap's next Christmas card pic for sure.

Finally, on Monday--Memorial Day--we made our shortest hike of 5.5 miles. This was a true test of Betty's grit since one of her toe blisters re-opened when the blister bandages slipped and got stuck to her sock, causing sharp stabbing toe pain. But, she made it with flying colors--and several walks downhill backward! This was the hilliest hike we've done in Minnesota. Fitbit declared we climbed 1200 floors. Every time we went down a hill we could see the next one dead ahead. Mind you, these were not long slogs, but they were steep. Scout loved them. Cap loved them. Babs liked the calories burned, and Betty just kept repeating her second-favorite mantra (which we will cover in later episodes) "D---it, Jan."

Aftermath of hills in the heat

Betty backward down the hill.

But--all-in-all it was a super-successful training run. We are now only 8.5 days away from leaving and we are all but ready. We certainly are excited. All that's left is to pack our bags for the final time, bring my orchid plants to my mother's house (Granny Grace) for plant sitting, and Cap and I have to hire someone to visit our house several times to make sure the mice aren't living in the kitchen. 

Next time: Scotch. Promise.

Tricks of the Trail: Peripheral Skills

Scout, Cap, & Betty on a 10-mile training hike

Most people don't realize there's a lot more to training for a long distance hike than walking tons of
miles. People are impressed when I tell them we now look at 3 1/2 miles as a warm-up, or we're disappointed if we only have time for a 5-mile hike. But that's just down to physical stamina and muscle conditioning that we can build up as any athlete does. 

The actual difficult parts of training have to do with practicing the peripheral things that fill in all the minutes on the trail not involving in taking steps, and handling the hours after the walk. Here's a short taste of the things Team Roger is working hard to master.

WHINING: The necessity for this important skill was brought to our attention by Betty who tries to convince us that she is the expert at whining while on the trail. She might be right, but everyone except Cap is actually getting fairly good at coming up with impressive complaints--like toddlers on a long car trip. If anyone would like to practice their whining skills, here are a few examples you're welcome to try:

Part of whining is letting it show on you face.

"My right foot twists in my shoe and feels funny."

"Ooh, ooh, cramp in my arch."

"This asphalt is hard on my back."

"My laces are too tight. I can't feel my toes."

"Are we done yet?"

"Yesterday the first mile went by faster."

"No, no, I'm fine; my knees are only a LITTLE achy today."

"I really have to pee and there are too many people on this trail."

"Ooh, ooh, cramp in my heel."

Those are courtesy of Betty, Babs, and Scout. Seriously, the worst thing Cap complains about is when his All Trails app shows we missed a trail and we are heading away from our end point after seven miles. 

RE-LACING BOOTS & CARE OF FEET: It's inevitable that feet get tired once you hit a certain point in a walk (note: this comes at a different mile marker for every hiker). If you're unlucky, your feet will actually hurt, and in a worst-case scenario, the hurt will come from raw skin or a blister. So, every good hiker will have several tools to combat these ills. The first is a knowledge of various ways to lace a hiking boot, or loosen and tighten the laces in just the right places. The second is knowing exactly how to cut and place Moleskin protective padding where it won't make the hot spots worse. The third is simply learning to accept how weird it feels to have bandages, Moleskin, or silicone toe covers between your toes when you walk.

LONG GRASS:  This is where ticks live. In all seriousness, our Betty has had two tick-borne conditions in the past, and she is rightfully worried about ticks. We do our best to keep the little suckers from hitching rides on our persons, but once in a while we have to walk through tall grass areas. That's when the mantra "it's fine, everything's fine, this is fine," comes in handy. Also, we have standing agreements not to tell Betty if we see or find any little black creepy crawlies.

Fascinating side story: several years ago, Cap and Babs actually pulled 40 ticks each off of themselves after a state park hike (they weren't stuck in, they weren't stuck in). This might be the first time Betty has heard of this so if you hear a scream...

A ravine--where tick COULD be waiting

POTTY EMERGENCIES: Everyone knows that humans with male anatomy have a much easier time with pee stops in the woods than those with female anatomy. Guys don't really have to do much training for this aspect of long hikes because their dads taught them how to find a tree as part of potty training. Girls, however, must get over concerns not only about ticks but itch weed, poison ivy, wasps, and sharp branches, and develop their quads so as to perfect an extended squat. Here are the peeing rules:

*Move off the path at least a few yards (more in National Parks) to be polite.

*Use a stick or small trowel (because we all carry one, right? *shakes head*) to bury solids.

*Don’t leave TP in the woods.

*Don’t USE TP—embrace natural-ness.

*Face the trail so you can pretend to unexpected trail visitors that you’re looking for your phone.

*If you sit on a log like it’s a toilet seat, make sure it’s sturdy.

*Once you’re finished, check to make sure your phone didn’t fall out of your pocket.

 

FIND YOUR NATURAL NAVIGATORS: In Team Roger Lowa, Cap and Betty are the undisputed map readers. They LOVE maps and if a trail system has waypoint signs with maps, we must stop at every one. This is not a bad thing. Scout and Babs can read maps just fine, but we don't need to. We just enjoy the easy life and now and then correct wrong turns. Sometimes Cap relies on technology--he prefers All Trails for downloading maps. Babs can't keep technology running reliably, so she no longer navigates by phone. Pro tip: designate your map readers and navigators and don't mix jobs--too many cooks and all that!

Those are the main side skills we recommend for any hike, but most importantly for long-distance hikes. If you can gain reasonable proficiency in all these things you'll have no problems. But, if you want one main takeaway from this post it should be this--learn to whine. That will take you through almost any annoying situation!

 

Except this: whining might not have helped had we been sitting on this bench at the wrong time.

Happy adventuring--hiking or otherwise. Coming up on The True Adventures: Memorial Day Marathon and the curative properties of Scotch (and Tom Collins).

 

 

Of Mud & Hills: Team Roger Toughens up

The route of the Rob Roy Way

Last Friday, May 13th marked exactly four weeks until Team Roger Lowa boards a plane for a long-awaited, thrice-postponed trip to Scotland and England. Naturally, we plan to see lots of must-visit sights: Glasgow, Edinburgh, castles, islands, distilleries (there will be much more about Scotch in the future, trust me), Liverpool, and London. But the true heart of the trip will be an 80-mile, 8 day hike along a route in the mid-eastern Highlands called The Rob Roy Way. From the town of Drymen (pronounced Drimmin) to the town of Pitlochry, the four of us will attempt to walk an average of 10 miles a day (some slightly shorter, some longer) without complaining or wondering what possessed us. 

Bahahaha--sure.

Why?

A practice hiking trail in Wisconsin

Not entirely because we're crazy (although we are--in the best way, of course) but because distance
hiking is an amazing sport, because we'll see things and places we'd never see from a car or tour bus, because walking in the rain is so much fun, because we can, but primarily because we, Cap (Jan) and Babs (Liz), twisted Scout's (Pete) and Betty's (Tami) arms back in 2019 and said "You will come with us to walk in Scotland or we'll never hike with you again." (That isn't true. We suggested politely that they would love it and it took about .75 seconds for them to say that if we left them behind THEY'D never hike with us again.)

Since the trip was planned for May of The-Year-That-Shall-Not-be-Named, we obviously couldn't go and postponed/rebooked everything for one year later. Then came 2021, and because the world (most distressingly for us the UK) was closed, we couldn't go then either even though we rescheduled the entire trip for a third time. This year, we will go if have to swim there.

A Minnesota rocky uphill

Training in the mud

It's not hard to prepare for sightseeing, but training for a distance hike is a different matter. Even though Team Roger has been hiking for years, we do tend to get soft over the winter holidays. Cap and I (Babs) have done distance hikes before. In
2012 we crossed northern England (196 miles on the Coast to Coast walk) and in 2017 we trekked the West Highland Way in Scotland (100 miles) and the most important thing we learned was how to climb four-foot boulders in pouring rain. The second most important thing we learned was that you can't head for an 80-mile hike without good preparation. 

After a very cold and wet but unusually low-snow Minnesota winter that forced us to take hikes on our treadmills, a few rare snowshoeing outings (it might only have been one), and a couple of cold, icy walks that required snow boots and crampons, we finally got out onto the trails only to find water and mud--both very good preparations for Scottish trekking.

 

 

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Betty & Babbles. Cap & Scout are the ants in the background.

 

We have ramped up our training, four weeks out from departure. One rule-of-thumb for knowing you are ready to hike multiple long days is the ability to hike 10-miles, two days in a row. This weekend we made three hikes (in addition to daily walks in our respective neighborhoods) carrying full day backpacks: an 8-mile rugged terrain hike in Wisconsin (Interstate State Park-a gorgeous riverside park shared by Minnesota and its cheese-loving neighbor; a 7-mile easy rolling hike in a gorgeous suburban regional park (Lebanon Hills in Eagan, MN) and a 10.5-miler along a Rails to Trails path with a loop in a beautiful wooded side park (The Luce Line-Long Lake, MN). 

Lest anyone think we are in perfect shape, think again. Although we are kind of badass for our ages, we make no claim to be experts--we just do this so our children don't think we're getting old. Trust us, after 10 miles, everyone wants to stop and when we do, there might not be actual tears, but there are half a dozen limping steps and some whining before we can take a normal stride. But we have a couple more weeks to continuing building up to being hard-bodied, and we have some nice long treks planned. It could well be that any given night one or more of us will be curled up on a couch eating pickles to forestall leg cramps. But we'll pop up the next morning ready to walk again. 

Tami, Liz, Jan & Pete

What's the takeaway advice for this if you want to do your own training for a long hike? Walk a lot. Go up hills. Go down hills. Walk on rocks, boulders, asphalt, grass. Find water to cross. Get used to the backpack you want to use. Increase your distances slowly. Find a pub to eat at after a long hike (at this we ARE experts). And when three miles feels like a warm-up, you'll be ready to go.

 

Or so we tell ourselves. 

 

Here are a few more pics from our spring hikes. Notice that in addition to tired feet, we also get to see some very pretty sights right here in our own backyard!

 

We kind of expected to see Luke's X-wing.

Cap and Scout checking out a wrong turn down a steep hill.

One of Betty & Cap's favorite parts of hiking is checking the maps and knowing the route. One of Babs and Scout's favorite parts is not having to check the maps.

Babs going up

The reward for tired feet.

We'll keep you updated on the progress and the possible need for pickle juice (it really does work for cramping hamstrings). 

 

Meanwhile, coming up on the blog: What we know about curing whining with Scotch plus the official Team Roger Lowa slogan-slash-toast.