#16 Suzanne Arlie Park Eugene, OR

Hike 16 Suzanne Arlie Park Eugene, OR

#52HikeChallege

Date:  May 9, 2020

Distance: 4sh mile

Weather: Sunny and HOT!
Type: Old road to some home ruins
Company: Broke the rules today and met up with my friends for a socially distant hike and picnic! MUCH needed friend time was on the menu for this lovely spring day. 

Such a fun hike.  Thanks to our friend Melissa for the heads up. We started out the day by all meeting up at the trail head...in separate cars, of course. Traci and Sue brought their puppy pals to join in on the fun!  While Traci and I were waiting on the others, a gentleman from the neighborhood pulled up on his tractor and let us know that their had been some cougar sitings in the area so to be sure to make lots of noise on the trail. Sue pulled up a few minutes later, so it looks like the concerned neighbor was correct ! :)

For the first part of the hike we headed up the old road towards the home site. We should all know by now that I a bit of a wimp, so I was a touch skittish and on the lookout for cougar sightings!  The pups were all happy and content though so I took that as a good sign that we were safe.  The house ruins consist of an old chimney and a small room---maybe a storage room of sorts.  Some fun loving youths (or the local wiccan group) had decorated the chimney with an assortment of animal bones and some wood. Not sure what they were going for, but it looked kind of cool!  There was a little room tucked up in the trees behind the chimney that was simply delightful! Would have been the perfect place for a picnic....had we been forward thinking enough to bring out picnic stuff with us! 

Unfortunately, it was still at the cars! We hung out there for a bit to cool off and try to get some Insta-Worthy shots and then headed back to the cars for a quick bit to eat and some bevies.  While I am all about the hiking..this was by far the best part of the day. Hanging out with my friends, chatting laughing, and enjoying each other's company. It had been a minute since we were able to get together in person and we were soaking in all the time we could get!   

Eventually, we drug ourselves up and finished the rest of the hike. This time we headed up the hill and followed another abandoned road past a lovely clearing, through some fields and around to intersect with the road leading to the old house site.  We salvaged some plants, studied an animal corpse, discussed the characteristics of poison oak, talked, laughed, breathed.   Bliss.

In the end we had walked around 10,000 steps, spent 5 hours together, and made the most of a beautiful spring day!  Grateful for firends who are willing to waste away the days together.   

#everydayadventures #thingsthatmakemehappy #badasses #52hikechallenge