It was an early morning, as usual. For a rare change, it was 15 C, rather than the usual 10 C which made morning coffee outdoors very pleasant indeed. It didn’t take me long to take my seat in the sunshine for meditation. However, before doing so, my good wife had me covered in mosquito repellent, the oil product that I mentioned in a previous post. The time flew by with speed and it was time for breakfast and a second cup of coffee before we packed up for a drive to walk the hills of Sask Landing Provincial Park.
The sun continued to pour down on our small part of the world as we finally set out on our hike after parking the car at the end of a gravel road which stood only metres from the eastern boundary of the Park. As usual when hiking with my wife, I wore the obligatory pair of shorts. After all, we were in a provincial park on a summer weekend. Though we were at the furthest edge of the park, we weren’t alone, that is until we headed up into the hills. We followed the faintest of an animal trail to reach the top of the first set of hills, a climb of 130 metres. We then followed the hills heading west with constant ascents and descents for three kilometres before deciding that the lack of trails had us scrambling too much in the growing, oppressive heat.
By the time we reached the car, it was 32 C. Our plan to walk a different path was nixed and we decided to return home before a thunderstorm caught us in the hills. Neither of us are fans of hiking when lightning is likely to be present on the prairie hills. The storm was intense though not long-lived. Likely we will have another storm or two arrive according to the weather forecast. Because of this, I am able to send this post out, unplanned.