Tag Archives: #hikingwithkids

23Jun/17
path thru the forest

10 Weird Things We Saw While Hiking

two of my grands I and went hiking this week and saw some weird things…

path thru the forest

hiking through the woods is sometimes scary. and weird..

Hiking can be a wonderful peaceful experience…it can also be a little scary or weird…especially when you are telling scary stories as you hike….or seeing weird things. Two of my grands and I went hiking this week. We had a wonderful day climbing the trail to the falls and then back down again…well at least they did. Me, on the other hand… I was huffing and puffing and falling up and down the mountain.

We had fun day, even though I thought I may not make it out alive. We saw a lot of people and some weird things. Here are the 10 weird things we saw while hiking. Note: you may not think all of them are weird….but we did…

1. Girls hiking in bikinis – I’m not sure, maybe someone changed the dress code for hiking, but bikinis are never a good idea on a rocky mountain trail. I mean just bikinis, no tops over them and then they had flip flops on their feet. I had a hard enough time walking over the rocky terrain in my sneakers. And I could picture the girls tumbling down the rocks with their bikinis falling off and cuts and scrapes all over their cute little thin tiny bodies….

2. Guys in biking shorts – ok, I get this one, maybe they biked up to the trail and this is what they had on already but still…I’m not a fan of biking shorts, they are worse than bikinis….and what if they fall? Do guys wear cups under their biking shorts? You know like football players wear? Maybe they should if they are going to hike in them..just saying..

3. Bathing caps – a. I didn’t know anyone still wore bathing caps, let alone hike in one. b. why would you want to wear one to hike, its hot and this would make you even hotter. I hated wearing them to swim in when I was a kid. I had to do a double take to make sure it wasn’t some new kind of hiking head attire….nope it had the little strap hanging on the side. Where does one even find a bathing cap?

4. Dogs – I have a hard enough time hiking up the rocky trails, so I can’t even imagine how poor Fido feels. And then people were taking them up the high dangerous rocks on the falls. First of all there are signs posted everywhere not to climb on the rocks but everyone does anyway. If you want to fall to your bloody death, fine….But don’t make your dog do it with you. Did you even ask him if he wanted to do this?

5. Grandmothers that have a broken toe –  well there was really only one I know of and that would be me. These broken toed grandmothers have no business climbing up rocky mountain trails…also in the same vein, grand daughters who have sprained their wrists have no business trying to help said grandmother when she is falling down the mountain. But thank goodness she did.

“I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

6. People wearing perfume/cologne – just a gentle reminder here that maybe wearing a whole bottle of perfume or cologne to go hiking is not a good idea while out on the trail. Bugs absolutely love this stuff! I must say though..it was super nice passing these great smelling people. And I’m sure they loved the smell of us in return. Sweat smells awesome! Special note here: the people that smelled good were on their way up and us sweaty smelling people were on our way down…

7. Optional hiking attire – while hiking as a kid and almost ever since, most people would wear long pants and shirts and hiking boots or sneakers. Not anymore. Long jeans, which is a good idea to keep ticks off and mosquitos at bay…but long jeans and no shirt is just weird. Shorts and boots up to the knee (this was a man by the way). Sweatshirts and coats…it was 85 degrees and remember we were sweating…but they were better prepared for ticks and bugs than the shirtless guy. And lets not forget bikinis and biking shorts… I can’t, can you?

8. Serial Killers – I always think every guy hiking all by himself that I pass on the trail may be a serial killer. One guy we passed really did look like one….what do they look like you ask…oh yeah..they look like a nice guys and they are very quiet….and seriously don’t people hiking always find the dead person. So there must be some out there….

9. A rock growing out of a tree or a tree growing out of a rock – it had fallen over so it was hard to tell which one it was…but it was very cool…see picture below.

rock tree

rock growing out of a tree or tree growing out of a rock…

10. A towel – The towel was hanging over a tree limb and it said, “that’s just weird.” and it was….

All in all we had a great day on the mountain. The weather was beautiful. I didn’t die or crack my head open. And we had a teachable moment when I fell…I asked the kids what they would have done if I indeed would have cracked my head open. And my grand daughter said she would have taken my phone and called 911. We looked at my phone and I didn’t have any signal at all, so there went that great idea. I said then what would you have done, she said she would have screamed at the top of her lungs until someone came by and helped us. Ok, very good idea…we just have to hope it wouldn’t have been the serial killer.

Do you like to go hiking? What is the weirdest thing you ever saw? Please comment below and tell me what you have seen…

“And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” ~ Unknown