Since the weather has been fairly nice, I decided to get in some biking and hiking before the humidity climbed into the 90's. My first stop was the Rock Island Trail in Pleasant Hill. The trailhead was a bit tricky to find, because Hwy 291 takes a few jogs through Lee's Summit. I ended up in a town called Greenwood out in the country (rural roads scare me), so I had to backtrack and start over. I finally made it to the trail, but kept having to detour around downed branches from a recent severe thunderstorm. After about 10 miles, I gave up when I came upon an entire tree laying across the trail. Some people were managing to get through by walking their bikes down into the ditch and around the tree, but I decided I'd just head into Pleasant Hill and do some sketching of their "downtown" area.
The next day, I headed off to the MKT Trail in Columbia. It was a MUCH nicer trail - well-maintained and shady. It intersected the Katy Trail after about 4 miles. I would have stopped to sketch one of the old truss bridges along the trail, but gnats and mosquitoes were pretty prevalent.
I ordered some new hiking pants from Eddie Bauer. When I ordered them (about 3 weeks ago), it was still cool out. But even though it's much warmer now, I decided to try them out with a hiking trip to Meramec State Park. I couldn't believe how much the foliage has grown up along the trail, probably since the parks have been partially closed the last couple months (not many people out to beat down the plants). I love my new pants, because the side pocket is big enough for my phone, but I'm not sure I'd wear a short pant leg style again until they cut back some of those plants. I was petrified of getting poison ivy and/or a tick bite.
Today I met a friend in Washington for a walk along the river. It was so gorgeous out with a nice breeze coming off the water. You'd think with all this exercise, I'd be ahead on Fitbit steps for this month, but on my "off" days, I tend to sit at home on my computer. Hopefully the good weather will continue until I can catch up to Janet.
