Inspired by Bill, fellow Hungry Intellectual member Nathan and I decided to hike to Sunday's bookclub meeting & BBQ held at a picnic shelter in Umstead Park.According to Google walking maps, our journey would take us 2 miles through suburban Cary along Harrison Avenue, and 5.5 miles along a couple of well-maintained trails of Umstead Park. The hike, according to Google, was anticipated to take no longer than 2 and 1/2 hours.
Much like most novice hikers mentioned in A Walk in the Woods, Nathan and I were in for more of a workout than we expected.
Nathan was definitely Bill in this scenario and I was Katz, mumbling and cursing as I tried to keep up with Nathan's brisk pace. Fortunately, I chose not to toss any of our BBQ supplies out of my pack along the trail. I did however, manage to convince Nathan to switch packs with me as mine was significantly heavier with most of the food, books, notes, water, and charcoal for the grill (that we didn't use anyway).
Instead of printing the Google map and bringing it along with us, we chose instead to rely on the park's maps and trail markers. This was poor planning on our part, considering both Nathan and I are the most easily disoriented people we know.
So 4 hours and 2 extra miles later, we arrived in true 3S hiker style: Sweaty, stinky, and starving!
Thankfully enough, though we were very much late for the meeting, everyone was waiting at the picnic shelter with an amazing spread of food for our Appalachian BBQ:
- Strawberries and blueberries from the farmer's market
- NC pulled pork & 'slaw
- Pasta salad
- Tossed salad from a member's home garden & homemade croutons
- Sweet potato chips
- Peach, tomato, & cucumber soup
- Strawberry cobbler
And most appropriately.... Snickers bars!
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