charlotte harris

Val-der-reeeeeee, val-der-raaaaaaaah…

Gramma would get us all singing as we hiked through the woods.  She said it was so the hunters would not mistake us little kids for deer.  

Nowadays we just wear bright orange hats in the fall, though I wouldn’t mind a bit if we got some silly songs going. 

Like the summer of Sis’ wedding when we sat around drinking the leftover wine from the reception and singing camp songs.   “Flea.  Flea Fly.  Flea Fly Flo.  Exameenie, decimeenie, oo walla walla meenie.”  Or when cousin Katy distracted us from the bitter cold one late November night with her Army marching songs.  ”I’m a steam roller baby, I’m gonna roll all over you!”  Or when my niece plays audience of one to a room full of adults singing “I’m a little teapot,” all of us posing with handles and spouts.

Anyway, hiking in the woods and singing… 

So I went for my first trail run of the spring at a park near my office after work on Wednesday.  A quick run because I wanted to get home and clean up for my dinner date with MF.  My plan was to run one long loop through the woods, followed by one loop of a much shorter adjacent trail.  It would total 4 miles.  I studied the park map real quick and left it behind in the car, knowing I should simply follow the blue trail markers, then the red trail markers. 

An hour later I emerged from the woods, my sneaks caked with clay and my legs splattered with mud and marked with little red scrapes.  Three times, I lost the blue trail markers.  Went way out of my way and had to backtrack.  Ran through a couple soccer games (ummm, definitely not on the map).  Ended up on Church Street (also not on my planned route).  Backtracked some more.  Even when on course, I was slowed by some seriously gooey mud and fallen trees several times.  

So while I was “lost” (ha ha, I could hear traffic and people playing in the distance the whole time)  I occupied myself remembering those Vermont hikes with my Gramma.  She’s the one who taught me to follow the trail blazes.  Why couldn’t I find them this time?   I visualized the map and remembered which other trails would take me back to the lot.   I had no problem finding the white trail — ya know, the faded blazes looked just like flaws in the grey tree bark.  But bright blue?  Had a little trouble seeing it. 

So I just ran.  I would just run ’til I got back to my car.  I would enjoy the empty woods on whatever color trail I found.  And I sang as I wove my path through the woods.  In my head of course.  “I love to go a wandering along the mountain track, and as I go I love to sing…”