Welcome to Running: A FEVER. My name is Michael Davis. This is a podcast about fitness, diet, and medicine. My goal is to live a long, healthy, happy, active life right up to the very end. If that’s what you want, you’re in the right place. Come on along; we’ll get there together. I just want to love my life enough to make it last as long as possible.
Today it is a beautiful day at Mount Magazine State Park, where I am spending my vacation. I’ll have some extra pictures this time. They’ll be on the website at RunningAFEVER.com in the blog post of this episode. It’s been a good trip so far. It’s a really nice cabin. It’s better than the ones I’ve stayed in in terms of amenities, not necessarily in terms of quaintness. But there is a bigger fridge (even in this one-bedroom cabin), dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer. And, of course, a beautiful view across the valley.
I’m on the Signal Hill trail specifically to reach the summit of Mount Magazine. I’m coming to the fork in the road. One side leads to the high point; the other leads to House Gap and Mossback Ridge. The high point is actually the highest point in the state of Arkansas, where I live. It’s about 2700 feet, which is miniscule by Colorado standards. Microscopic by Alaska standards. But for Arkansas, it’s the best we’ve got, and there are quite a few hills and mountains in the state. It rained a lot the first day I was here. Sunday night and Monday night. And there’s still some collected water around here.
This trail is rated a “moderate” difficulty trail. I thought I could probably handle it. It’s pretty close to the cabin, but I did drive to get here. I’m taking a picture of the trail going up the hill. It’s interesting that it’s Signal Hill Trail. Maybe since it’s part of Mount Magazine it should be called Signal Mountain Trail. There haven’t been just a ton of people here. I saw a group of four heading up the hill when I was driving here. And I saw two coming down who just passed.
The cabin is not secluded as such. There are trees on one side and another cabin on the other. That cabin is not inhabited this week, so I’ve had plenty of privacy.
Well, I’m going to feel this; I can already tell. The muscles in my legs are working more than usual. You know, at Lake Fayetteville, there are some inclines. But this is a whole incline. You don’t get to go down until you go down. So it’s a half-incline. I’m taking it slow. I spent the first couple of days pretty much in and around the cabin, where I got basically one view. It’s a spectacular, awesome view into a valley where there is what I think is a river, not sure which one. It’s an awesome view but it’s one view. I took a bunch of pictures of it at different times and on different days. Sometimes, this high up, we’re above the clouds looking down on them. Yes, I am feeling this in my legs and my back.
The weather’s been pretty decent other than the first rainy night and day. But it is getting down below freezing at night. I’m not sure what the temp is today. it’s probably colder up here on the mountain.
We’ve got a ways to go since I can see things higher. When I get to the top, we won’t see anything higher. I’m fighting against gravity here. I could have come out yesterday; it was cool. But I knew today was going to be warmer, so I decided to come out today. At the cabin, you can really feel the wind. Arkansas is pretty windy in general, but especially up here on the mountain. But here, I have trees as a barrier against that. The first night the wind was so strong it was blowing down the chimney. And, of course, I had a fire going, so the wind blew smoke down the chimney and out of the fireplace and into the room. And the three smoke detectors in this one room went off all at once. So I had to open the door. I eventually just put out the fire with some water. So much for the fire that night. But I’ve had a fire every day. It’s one of the reasons I come out here. I have a fake fireplace in my house, but not a real one. I remember getting here and immediately smelling burning wood as soon as I got here and got out of my truck.
Yes, it is getting steeper in the higher altitude parts that I’m looking at are growing smaller as I continue to walk. I’m hoping to get a nice panoramic video. There will definitely be video of some kind. So be sure to tune in to runningafever.com/youtube. Hopefully you are subscribed, but you may not know that this episode contains video, so I’m letting you know. I just remembered I have an altimeter on my watch, and it says 2750. It’s actually getting cooler as we go further up.
Diet report: Let’s just say it’s not good. I have a history of overindulging on vacation, and this one is no exception. But I hope this little jaunt will improve things, and then I’m sure there will be more walking when I get back home. And there is a nice, convenient stump right here on the trail that I can sit on. It doesn’t look like there are a lot of old trees up here. Lots of young ones. I don’t think many of these are older than I am. There’s one ahead that probably is. Being out of shape is really a drag, folks. I wouldn’t recommend you try it. Gravity is a vicious enemy. Fortunately, it’s leveling out just a little bit right here.
Mount Magazine feels bigger. Certainly, it is a higher altitude, but it seems to be a bigger park. Maybe it’s because of that big lodge. I’m used to going to Mount Nebo. They don’t have anything like that, just a few cabins sprinkled around the top. Campsites. Maybe one or two RV hookups. You can’t get a big RV up there. But the trip here was not as bad in terms of tight turns. It’s a lot more gradual, even though there were a lot of turns. The lodge is fairly big. I don’t know how many rooms it has, but it has a restaurant, and there were three people at the front desk. They use key cards on the cabins. So I suppose I’ll have to drop by the lodge on my way out. At Mount Nebo, there’s just a keypad, and they just change the code when your time is up.
Not far to go here. Look! They put a line of rocks here just so people can trip over it! Fortunately, I didn’t. I can see the summit!
Well, I’ve been to the mountaintop. But I haven’t really seen the other side because there are a bunch of trees. This isn’t the kind of place where they’re going to build a tower with an elevator. It’s a state park, so they’re not going to cut down the trees. I’m glad the trees are up here. It would have been nice if it was just rock and you could see a lot. Like Yellow Rock Trail at Devil’s Den. I’ve done a few episodes there. There is a lovely view at the top where I’ve taken pictures of myself. Also, at Willamena State Park, there was a nice view from Lover’s Leap. But that’s not what this is. This is Mount Magazine. I got a picture of the altimeter. And now I’ve already gone down ten feet in altitude. And you can tell by my breathing that it’s a lot easier going down than it is going up. There’s a nice cool breeze.
I had another new experience this time. There’s a hot tub at my cabin. I didn’t anticipate it, but it was there, and I noticed it when I got there. At first, I wondered if it was too early for it since it’s an outdoor thing. Then I realized that a hot tub is hot. So it doesn’t really matter much what the outside temperature is. And actually, the colder it is, the better it feels. You’re in 110-degree water. So I decided to try it out. I’ve always thought that hot tubs were kind of cheesy. I picture some 1970s guy with a mustache, and there’s always some sort of naughtiness going on. But I decided to try it. It was already full and heated, and all I had to do was remove the cover, turn on the jets, and get in. It was great! If you can afford the space and power, etc. I recommend it. I think the heat is part of it. There are massaging jets you can feel on your back when you’re sitting in there. Have you ever gone swimming and felt really relaxed when you got out of the pool? It’s like that. And since you’ve been cooking, you’re warm for a really long time afterward, which is nice in the winter. It’s been getting below freezing here at night, but I felt fine getting out of the 100-degree water. I’ve been thinking of getting a portable sauna. It just has a device that makes steam out of water and sends it into this tent-like thing.
Other than that, it’s been a similar experience to what I have had at Mount Nebo. If I had to choose between the two, I don’t know. Mount Nebo seems a little more quaint. My favorite cabin there is a lot more secluded than I think the most secluded one here is. All the cabins are just walking distance from the lodge. But the one I’m in this time is fairly private, with no one in the one next door. It’s probably still a good time to do this. I had no trouble booking a month ahead of time.
And there’s the special tripping mechanism. The thing about hiking is that you can’t look around too much. You have to keep your eyes on the ground. Though it’s not bad here, it’s not as rugged as Hobbs. You really couldn’t take your eyes off the ground there. Here, it’s just kind of a nice path with a little gravel. A couple of rocks stick out, but they’re obvious. There’s a nice German family catching up to me. I could go a little faster since we’re going downhill, but this is fine.
When I get back, I think it might be a good time to get in the hot tub. It will be therapeutic. I haven’t hurt myself, which is good. It’s been a relatively mild trail. It’s not really easy, but it would be if I was in a little better shape. It’s called moderate, and I think that’s pretty accurate. It might be easy for someone who’s in better shape.
More wetness. So the length of this is about what I’ve been doing, but half of it was uphill. A straight, continuous uphill climb. So a little different. There’s a Southern couple. A Southern couple and a German family. All on the same trail. All getting along and being very courteous to each other. It’s good to see positive, uplifting things like that. These are the only people I’ve seen in the last few days. There’s a truck that brings me firewood, but he’s pretty sneaky.
I can see Lodge Drive. I’ll walk up to the lodge, where I’ve parked my truck. Well, it was a new adventure today. It felt good. It was good to get out in nature. It’s good psychologically, physically, and socially. I got to interact with some people. So it’s a power move in the longevity struggle that we’re all under.
