Waiting on the rain

[chipotle]

Yesterday I finally did what I've been thinking I would once I got out here--go hiking, at least for a short loop, through one of the "open space" preserves in the area. A couple years ago I was doing day hikes at least quasi-regularly. Last winter, though, I think I only went out a couple times to short nature trails. And in Florida, hiking any time except winter is pretty much a lost cause: by late spring it's already going to be too hot by noon for you to want to be out walking unless you're in sufficient shade, and by summer it doesn't matter how much shade there is.

I went out to Skyline Ridge, one of a few preserves all clustered near one another along Skyline Road, which runs along a north-south ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains. After studying the map a little, I settled on a pretty short loop--just about 1.2 miles--knowing that I'd gotten a bit of a late start in the day, and knowing that I hadn't hiked in two years and rarely in anything resembling mountains.

I had a few revelations on that short hike:

• As pretty as much of Florida is, you can't match mountain views in relatively flat land. There are places I've been in Florida I'd tag with "just as beautiful in a different way," but there are very few places you can get true panoramas there--a few of the hills in the north, and some of the prairies and grasslands, which are starkly different sorts of grand views.
• Walking uphill, even for only 0.6 of a mile (the loop basically went up to a high point in its center and back down a different route), is surprisingly strenuous when you're used to paths that probably only have an elevation variation of 20-40 feet between high and low points.
• I'm in bad shape.

I'm glad I went yesterday, though; clouds have settled in and they're predicted to be here through next Friday, with over six inches of rain likely in the next few days. I don't necessarily mind the rain--Tugrik's hoping we get slammed here, I suspect so he can put the weather system he has outside to good use. (I'll be interested in seeing what it does, although what little I knew about weather systems I learned in elementary school and have long since forgotten.)

Today, I have--of course--more résumés to send out. I'm also considering "applying" for a position as an editor at OS News; I put "apply" in quotes because they don't pay. But their main managing editor, Eugenia (the main editor of BeNews, the BeOS news site, for a couple years), is leaving, and I suspect they'll go into a tailspin without a few people to take up the slack. I definitely won't take up all of it even if they're willing to give me a chance--but a few hours a week could be fun (more while I'm still unemployed!) and the exposure might be helpful. And it'd be interesting to see if I could shape the site like Eugenia did, just in different ways, although I doubt they'd promptly hand over the full reigns to me like they evidently did with her. She did, of course, have BeNews on her volunteer résumé, proving she'd already done it all once.

Comments

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

I just like rain... moreso when there's a proper thunderstorm attached. I guess it's my midwestern/tornado-alley upbringing still showing through. The weatherstation is just a facet of apprecating a proper storm. When it really starts coming down *looks hopeful* I'm going to go out for a hike in it.

[traveller-blues.livejournal.com]

Been watching the rain all evening. Not quite as nasty as we might hope, but oh well.

I miss the rain, here...

-Kaliffio