I love rocks. I love all their various colors, shapes, and sizes. As I hike the trail I get to see lots of rocks. Not only that, but I get to step on thousands and thousands of them. I love to step up on big embedded ones until my thighs ache. I love to step over, around and between middle size ones causing me to lose my concentration. However I especially love the little inch ones. Stepping on one with the ball of my foot as I climb causes me to stumble forward. To regain my balance I have to very quickly compensate with my absolutely-required hiking poles. But that’s not as bad as stepping on one of those rounded ones as I descend. Then my foot flies foreword and I stumble even faster backwards. Again my poles need to rapidly come to my rescue. It’s amazing that I haven’t yet fallen off the trail and over a cliff. Other than the shock to my emotions I don’t feel anything in either case. Yet if I unknowingly step upon a rock with the outside of my right or left heel, then the resulting stumble can be like one of the above along with a piercing pain as the new blisters I have recently developed are squeezed to the extreme. Yes. I love rocks. I love them here. I love them there. I just don’t love them anywhere under my feet.

UPDATE:

Here are some more lovely trail pictures. I especially loved the real chunky sections. My poles would stick deep into the holes. My ankles would twist and turn as I nimbly skipped across the rock pile.