You can stay inside and watch it rain--or you can go get muddy

Like most everyone else who runs or bikes or just makes going outside part of their daily vital routine--I have spent woefully many hours on the couch, at the computer, watching TV, and even reading a little. Looking out the window has been depressing.

Actually, I do like rain. I believe every day in May that it rains is one day in the summer that is not as hot. With the solid month of rain almost every day, even the weather forecasters are hinting at a mild summer. My yard loves it. My superwoman wife actually mowed, and she couldn't get the riding mower to work for her so she push mowed our huge front and back yards--.67 of an acre of tough hardy more-like-weeds-than-grass. WOW! She gets a raise in her allowance.


Me--I just lay around and dream of running for miles and hours through dense woods and pine needle covered trailz. I recently bought a Sawyer Mini--a water filtration device where you can actually stick it in a stream or even a pond and suck water through it. Or you can fill a bladder with creek water and screw the filter on it and squeeze and drink. Now I CAN fun for hours on end in a wilderness that no one knows and always have water--until the drought returns.

I think I could even filter water from puddles like this. I haven't tried it yet. I bet it would still look and taste muddy. I'll do a produce review here soon.


But Dana and I HAVE taken a couple of runs on the few non-rainy periods. All of the ponds on Turkey Mountain are brim full. I had wondered if we would ever see them full again.


Right now there are plenty of stream crossings in the Urban Wilderness. Water crossings are fun--once you just get your feet wet and quit worrying about it. Turkey Mountain has all kinds of mud. Any light colored mud is clay, and will cake up quickly on your shoes, and a stream crossing is better than scraping your soles on a rock. This crossing is below Pepsi Lake. The video below (and you must watch it) is the waterfalls below Pepsi Lake. The lake has came up 10-12 feet, and the overflow and falls are worth making a hike to see.




The pool of water below the falls is nasty. I did see what could have been a water moccasin slither off into some wood debris at the edge--right where I needed to stand to video the falls. I improvised.



Mooser Creek is muddy and flowing. The Arkansas River actually backs up into Mooser Creek when Keystone is releasing water from the dam. So--Pepsi Falls awesome--when it's there. Mooser Creek is usually beautiful, but is a muddy mess now. And the Arkansas River is a nicer sight to see with water. Don't be a wuss like I have been--get out there and get your feet wet.