Hello from Cuyahoga Valley National Park! This morning I woke up, loaded up my car and my dog, and fled north to kick of spring break. The first time I ever came to CVNP was November 2018. On that trip, Caesar and I hiked Brandywine Falls Trail, The Stanford House Trail, and Salt Run Trail near Kendall Lake. While I have returned to Brandywine Falls and The Stanford House trails several times since that first trip, I have stayed away from the Salt Run Trail. I had dreaded going back because my memory of that first time on that trail was pure misery and pain.
You see, I had already hiked 5 hilly miles before I went to Salt Run. After spending the entire year training myself and Caesar, I thought “Oh, what’s another 3.25 miles?” Well, Salt Run actually connects to another trail. So, you have to walk around a mile just to get to Salt Run. But that wasn’t event the worst part. The. Hills. Yes, so, so, so many hills. While the Stanford Trail has many hills and you actually put in more elevation, I somehow remember Salt Run being far worse.
While on Salt Run in November 2018 (already tired, wet from sweat, and cold) I found that I wasn’t properly prepared. I was wearing fabric tennis shoes and this trail was pretty muddy. Hill after hill Caesar and I ran into mud puddles that were hard to avoid. My shoes got wet, which meant my socks got wet.
Perhaps the very worst part of Salt Run that had been lingering in my mind was the fact that there was rarely a flat stretch to walk and recover. Nearly overtime you took a steep hill down, a steep hill up followed. It was like a never-ending roller coaster.
Then, half way through the trail I looked down and there was blood on my jacket, but it wasn’t my blood – it was Caesar’s. Somewhere along the line, he had scratched his nose on something. Luckily it wasn’t too bad of a scratch, and the blood stopped fairly quick.
After seeing Caesar’s trail battle wound, I pulled out my phone to see how far we were from the car (my phone connects to my car and shows me where it is parked, which is nice). It felt like we had been hiking forever – 1.5 miles to go, my phone said. I remember looking at Caesar and telling him, “Buddy, if I fall over, just pull me back to the car, okay?”
But, we did make it, and it took me a year and a half to dare to do that trail again. Earlier this week I told myself and Caesar that we were going to show Salt Run who is boss.
Here’s the thing, it wasn’t as bad as my mind tricked me into thinking it was. In November 2018, the trails were slightly muddy but, overall, it was a dry day. Today we hiked in pouring rain which eventually turned to snow. The trails were completely sloshy mud. I felt like if I wanted, I could have skated around in it. Even with the far worse weather and the far worse state the trails, Salt Run wasn’t nearly has bad as I remembered it. Halfway through the trail I wondered, “Did I just make a mountain out of a molehill?” I had put off doing this trail again out of fear.
How often do we remember a past experience in a far more dramatic fashion than it actually was? I began to contemplate this as I actually found peace in a trail that I was afraid to return to.
A lot has changed since November 2018. For one, Caesar and I have a lot more stamina. We’ve hiked longer, harder trails in the past year and a half. We walk near-daily. While we are both older, we are also both stronger. And, personally, I also came far more prepared with waterproof hiking boots, because almost nothing is worse than soggy socks. The fact of the matter is, Caesar and I have learned from our past hikes. We’re more experienced now, more calm, and more resilient.
Maybe Salt Run wasn’t actually so bad the first time around or maybe Caesar and I are just different people now. With as much as we’ve grown and changed, I’m going to assume the latter is true, which makes Salt Run not so bad in March 2020.
So often, our past experiences hold us back. If we had a bad experience with someone or while doing something, we try our best to avoid it forever. But, sometimes, the only way to grow and move forward is to face those negative vibes head on and tackle them. That is exactly why I decided when I booked this trip that we were going to Salt Run again.
Salt Run doesn’t own me anymore; Caesar and I own it.
