Outside The Asylum

I am not an athlete. That is the data from my wristwatch yesterday. The Bagby Hike is roughly 12:00pm-4:30pm, give or take a few minutes. So, being currently unemployed, for my wife's birthday, we decided not to go to a hotel and take a cheap road trip instead. Was going to be really cheap by going to Austin Hot Springs, which for many years had been abandoned by a private owner and left to ruin. At the last minute, we heard that the Warm Springs Confederated Tribes had bought the place, so we chickened out and bought $5 wristbands for Bagby. Bagby was another hour down the road further than Austin, but is more maintained. What I didn't realize is what a horrid hike in it is- the actual hot springs is a good 750 feet higher than the parking lot, and 1.65 miles in. Nothing to a real hiker, but to a sedentary slob with tendencies not to get out of bed, it was a grueling hour and 35 minutes in. After a soak, on the way back down, I remembered my Rosary- and it was still 20 ...