Today we’re going on the Greenfield Trail, as you can see, elevation 2430. Welcome to Running: A FEVER. I’m 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 your goal, you’re in the right place. We’ll get there together. Come on along!

It is about 7:30 in the morning here on November 19, 2024. It’s 51 degrees, really lovely. A clear day, you can see the sun over there in case you want to get blinded. And we’re on the Greenfield trail at Mt. Magazine, which is very wet. I’m starting my second full day here. They wouldn’t let me check in the first night until 4 pm. And by that time, the place was covered in fog. You could not see very much in front of you. It was kind of like the last time I was here.

Then I got inside and started a fire. Then the wind kicked in. It was a powerful wind. I recorded the introduction to this mini-series there and showed you some video of that wind. And I didn’t even see the view for a long time. The wind literally howled throughout the night. I could hear it howling. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard wind howl before, but it does actually howl.

This trail is supposed to have green blazes, but I haven’t seen a blaze. I’m seeing green moss. That might be a blaze. It’s kind of worn off. Maybe it’s just dirt. Who knows? And now I’ve come to a road. And this can’t be the end of the trail. Looks like it goes across the road. I’ll check my map just to be sure. Good thing I brought this. Yep, actually, we’re just at the beginning. It crosses 309, and then it continues.

This is supposed to be, I think, 1.7 miles. A moderate difficulty trail, which the Signal Hill trail is, that I went on the last time I was here. It rained. It wasn’t raining much, but it did rain the first night. It rained all day and blew all day. Rained off and on, sometimes lighter, sometimes harder rain. I was expecting that because the forecast said it would rain on Monday. So I was expecting a day inside, sitting by the fire and reading. Unfortunately, the high winds… I don’t know if you remember the last Mt. Magazine episode I did, that first night when the wind was blowing so hard that smoke came back down the chimney into the room and the fire alarms went off, the smoke detectors. They didn’t go off this time, but I saw the smoke coming in. Fortunately, the fire wasn’t big then, and I just let it die out. So, unfortunately, a day without a fire.

The wind lasted all day, and the rain lasted all day until sometime in the evening. Maybe 4 o’clock is when the wind settled down. After a while, I thought it was safe to light a fire. So I did have a fire last night, but I didn’t see the spectacular view, and I’ll show you a couple of pictures right now, if you’re on YouTube. I didn’t get to see that until this morning. But last night after the rain I was able to see the lights in the surrounding area.

I know you can hear the occasional car on 309 going by. This is during the week. It is Tuesday. So it’s a weekday. People are working, people are driving. Last time, I don’t think I ever noticed the highway. This morning, I woke up, and before I got up, I saw a beautiful, colorful sunrise. I’ll show you some of that in some pictures right now, and some of the surrounding view. That was just total fog; I couldn’t see anything all day on Monday. But today is very nice. But the trail is very wet. Fortunately, we’re on a mountain, so everything has flowed downward. The trail doesn’t have a lot of mud. There are wet leaves. My watch is activated, it says I’ve been exercising for ten minutes.

Let’s see what the altitude is. 1200 steps. Altitude. This says 2796. It’s higher than it’s supposed to be. This looks like a pretty good incline coming up here. We’ve got what they are calling a moderate-difficulty trail. 1.7 miles, I believe. Which is more than we’ve walked in a while. But presumably, it’s going to be 1.7 uphill and then 1.7 downhill, so hopefully, it won’t be that bad.

It’s a good time to be doing this. Supposedly, it’s going to get down to freezing this week. Thursday, I believe. I was planning to do three trails this week. We’ll see how that goes. I saw the sign for the Turkey Hill trail as we entered. On the way I did warm up my ankles before we came out here. I am wearing hiking boots (Fashion Department) with plenty of ankle support. My old Tom’s hiking boots. And they are old. Probably at least six years old. I’ve got to rest a bit. This is a bit challenging for me. I’ve been taking those relatively short walks, maybe a mile or two in my neighborhood, the new trail in my neighborhood. And it’s all flat. No incline whatsoever. And this is quite different. Anyway, I did warm up my ankles because I’m pretty sure I was wearing these boots when I ruptured my Achilles tendon. I definitely don’t want that to happen. It was also a muddy time. It was in a downpour. Quite a heinous night for me. Trying to drive back to civilization with a ruptured Achilles tendon.

I think God has put this rock here specifically for me to sit on for a moment. Thick woods up here on Mt. Magazine. Which is also, you may recall, what I saw on top of Signal Hill trail, the highest point in Arkansas. Which was, now that I remember, I think the altimeter said 2811. It’s the main picture for the podcast that day. My watch says I’ve only climbed one floor. That’s not true. The alti-barometer says 2874. 27.1 inches of mercury on the barometer. Which indicates a possibility of precipitation. It doesn’t look like it from the sky.

We have crossed the difficult or, as they say, the moderate portion of the trail, so we can pick up the pace a little bit. I know you can hear every footstep on this audio. We may run out of space on this journey, video-wise. So, YouTubers, just a note: We might not have all the video. We’ll have all the video I can record. But in 4K, it takes up a lot of space. And this is probably a 40-minute trek. Or even more, it’s already been half an hour, or 25 minutes maybe.

Looks like a naturally fallen tree that was chainsawed to clear the trail. It is a state park, so it’s doubtful they are renting out to the lumber industry to take down trees. I hear a rustling over there. It could be just the wind. I saw two deer when I was driving down here from cabin 13 to the Greenfield Picnic Area, where the trail begins. A little slide here. They were curious, but not afraid of the big truck, which is a shame. I mean, somebody will probably run into them at some point. I also saw a sign on the way up here that said “Bear Crossing,” but I haven’t seen any bears. Fortunately, I don’t want to see a bear in a situation where you can’t get into a car or escape it. That’s the danger. The adventure here on Running: A FEVER. Hiking: A FEVER today.

I still don’t see any green blazes. That might be one. It could be. They need to make them brighter, greener, and bigger, like a big X or something. It’s probably some paint that’s not toxic to trees. I’m walking on the ridge here beside the trail. Besides, the trail’s center is a little off-center, so I can see any rocks or holes that come up. Lovin’ life here on Mt. Magazine. Today, we get three things. We get fitness, and we get longevity for several reasons: exercise, having a purpose…and we’re going up again. So long and healthy. We also get happy because I’m getting a great psychological benefit from being outdoors and breathing fresh air.

This is going to hurt. I went to the gym on Sunday. I’ve been going to the gym every weekend for the last month or so. It’s far less crowded on a Saturday or Sunday morning. And yesterday I felt that, the day after my exercise. I thought the difficult part was behind me, but we’re having some inclines here. It says my heart rate is 57, but that’s what it said last time. I know that’s not correct. This watch is not very good. It looks great. Samsung Gear S3. That’s a rock. No animal is going to get close to me, fortunately. Unless I surprise a bear. I wonder what kind of hearing bears have. It’s probably better than ours, though. Maybe I should have brought a bear gun. Aren’t bear guns supposed to be more powerful than regular rifles or shotguns or whatever? Elephant guns, that’s what I’m thinking about. Maybe that’s just because of the skin. Not that you’d want to hunt either of those, but if you got caught in the wild, they would charge you. “They’re comin’ right for us!”

I have to be very careful here. I hope you can see the trail here because I’ve got to look down continuously. It’s an unfortunate part of hiking. I have to stop now and then and look at the scenery because you can’t look at it while you’re walking, especially here. Though this is pretty much like all of Arkansas, there are a lot of rocks under the ground, including diamonds!

Oh no. We’re going down. That means we’ll have to come back up this way. A while back, I figured out how many steps are in a mile. I don’t know how long exactly my steps are these days. If I did, maybe I could do some live math here while heading along the trail. Lots of moss. But it’s about to get cold. Last time, I noticed it was at least 10 degrees colder on the top of the mountain than it was down in the flats.

It looks like Mossback Ridge is to our right, and since we’re going down, there’s not too much further. We’ll meet mossback trail and then turn back. Greenfield. Why do they call this? I guess it could be that the picnic area is in a small green field, and that’s why they named it that. And then they named the trail after the picnic area because that’s where it starts. So when we get to Mossback Ridge trail. This should be Mossback Ridge because there’s a lot of moss. I thought moss only grew on the north side of trees, which makes sense because the sun’s coming up. But it’s also on the ground. Quite a bit.

Very easy walking now as we approach the Mossback Ridge trail, and I can already see the sign. It’s good when you see that goal in sight. It’s always a motivating factor. We’ll have a short incline and a long decline on the way back. Which is kind of the way I like it. I’m more energetic at the beginning than at the end. And the Mossback trail looks very wet. Although this is probably kind of a valley here. I just had something drip on me. Might have been my nose — nope! Something else.

Oh well, this is Big Shoal Creek, it’s not Mossback trail. We’ve actually got to cross it. Okay, safely across the creek, heading straight into the sun, and I see another incline. This trail just never ends, does it? It looks like we’re walking away from Mossback Ridge. Okay. I’ve taken wrong turns before, and I remember that time I walked nine miles in one day. I remember the time that I was running for the first time. I was only going to run half a mile. Or maybe I was running after my knee problem, I don’t know. No, because after that I decided to stop running. I ran a mile, but only planned to run half a mile.

There is a lot of glare here, just blinding us with the sun. There are a lot of memories on the Running: A FEVER show. There are over 400 episodes now. It’s been going on eight years. We celebrated seven years. As I record this, we’re just two days away, on the 17th. So Sunday was seven years. But as you’re listening to it, we’ll be heading toward eight years. But I guess we are technically now.

Keep trudging. Keep trudging till you reach the goal. It’s hard to see, but I think there may be a sign ahead. I’m trying to keep the sun out of the lens, but we’re facing east, we’re heading east, and it’s morning. Alright, it’s got to be Mossback trail even though it doesn’t say so, because we’re at a T. The Visitor’s Center is down this way. Benefield is that way. Lodge is that way. I’m surprised they don’t have a Mossback Ridge sign. But I’m going to touch the sign and head back. I can prove to you that this is the Mossback trail by looking at this magazine. I say magazine because it says Magazine right in front of me. Greenfield Trail meets Mossback Ridge Trail, returns to the lodge, and then to Benefield. So this is definitely the Mossback Ridge trail. And now we’re at 1.7 miles, which may be the longest I’ve walked in a long time. Certainly, by the time we get back, it will be the longest in a very long time because that will be 3.4.

It’s a good thing most of this is downhill. And you get to see the other side of the trees. Same trail, but you get to see the other side of the trees. Heading west now. “Go west, young man. Go west.” I’m trying to pick up the pace a little, going downhill, being careful not to trip. A tree branch jumped out and bit me.

Fashion report. The new Champion black sweatpants. I don’t think they are as good as the last ones because they are 50% acrylic. So that’s like a fleece or something. There’s probably a little Spandex in there because they do stretch. And then most of the other half is probably cotton. Not as good as the old ones, but they don’t have holes in them, except for the three: two for the legs and one for the body. That’s a wet log. That’s a wet tree. Pretty rough terrain here. I’ll take it slow. Wet, slimy, mossy tree I just grabbed on to.

I’m hoping, the new Champion sweatpants are a little too tight right now and they don’t seem to be loosening up because they are not cotton. I think I’m going to try airing them dry instead of putting them in the dryer, and maybe that will help. But I’m hoping they fit a little better as time goes by. I’ve lost from the high point this year, last time I weighed, 34 pounds. Well, I guess 250 was the last time I weighed, so that would be 33 pounds. I have been down as low as 247.

And how am I doing it this time? Well, it’s not the most healthy way. It’s not starvation, I’ll tell you that right off. Because starvation is dangerous, and I’ve been through that before and seen the results. So I’m not going to do that. But I’m having protein shakes for two meals a day, and then … Big Shoal Creek, I guess it starts or ends at the Big Shoals, very careful crossing the creek. It’s almost better to put your foot in the water, but that would be uncomfortable… So I’m having two shakes per day, and I’ve been trying some different stuff. This morning I had a BCAA shake before I lit out here, and when I get back, I will have a whey protein shake. It’s a new brand that I found in the grocery store. They didn’t have the Optimum Nutrition that I have at home. I wanted to be sure I had enough for the trip, because I am going to have 8 meals, something like that. And then I’m having dinner, which is not a tiny meal, but not a binge either. It’s maybe a large–depends on the day. Sometimes it’s large calorie-wise, sometimes it’s not. But I gotta be careful with that one because some of the meals I’ve tried, I’ve had to adjust because I’ve picked up a pound or two the next day.

Here we go uphill. Remember when we had that downhill on the way down or on the way up? It’s technically down, but on our way out. We’re going on the trail now, and it’s getting rather warm. The temperature’s probably warming up, but I’ve also got my hoodie on, so that makes it a little warmer. It’s okay; it’s good. A little uncomfortable temperature is good for longevity, as we learned in the Aging Reversed! series.

So I hope to continue losing weight, and these pants will get looser. Well, folks, we’ve been going for almost an hour. Let’s see, it took me five minutes to get here. So probably 55 minutes at this point, which is pretty slow, but slow relative to level ground. And I don’t think we’ll speed up going downhill, because you have to be just as careful as you do going uphill. I didn’t memorize the position of every rock. I didn’t see every rock. Or in this case, a tree. I don’t remember stepping over that tree, but I guess I did. Probably because I was still thinking about this rock.

They probably need to reblaze these trails. Cabin 13 is very nice. It’s very similar to cabin 11 that I had last time. Except it’s got three bedrooms instead of one. And there is no washer and dryer, which is okay. I’ve got enough clothes. I didn’t even use it last time, but I didn’t have any soap either. I brought some soap this time, but I don’t need to use it.

If memory serves, we might have one more uphill section. There are a couple of easy trails here at Mt. Magazine. That Benefield trail or Benefield area you saw this time is for the Mossback Ridge trail. There’s a Benefield Loop, or two Benefield Loops, centered around the Benefield picnic area, kind of like the Greenfield picnic area. That is an easy trail. This is a moderate trail. I don’t think I want to go above moderate this trip.

I’m going to be very careful here; going down may be slower than going up. And I can feel it in my legs too. It depends on how steep it is. No injuries yet, knock on a tree. No twisted ankle, no ruptured Achilles tendon, no knee fracture. My back is kind of sore. Of course that may have something to do, or the workout on Sunday may have something to do with that. I took Advil before I came out. I’ll probably use a Lidocaine patch when I get back. Something that was prescribed for me when I came in with the serious back pain. This guy is just not going to let go of me, really likes me. I thought I might have brought the other stuff that I could just put on before I came out here. Danger, danger, danger. Danger, danger, danger.

You don’t realize the danger until you’ve been seriously injured. Then it takes on a whole new meaning here, hiking. It makes you cautious. We’ve seen it several times on the show. The first time was probably when I injured my knee running, and I realized that running was probably not a good idea for me. It happened a little over a month after I started the show. And if you haven’t listened to all those podcasts from the other days, then think about going back and checking them out and just letting them roll. Those were pretty long. This one is going to be pretty long, though the video might not be as long.

Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to record 4K for an hour. I’ve got a 32 GB card, but I don’t think that’s enough. And we’re at over an hour now. But you saw the whole trail, I think, hopefully. Or most of it. By the way, all of the podcasts are now available on YouTube. All the audio podcasts are available in a playlist called Running: A FEVER. They will be automagically uploaded separately from these videos that I upload. So there’ll be at least two for every episode. Even though I’m trying to do a video for every single episode now, it doesn’t make much sense to do a video on the same trail repeatedly, and I don’t think I could come up with something different every time. Although they look slightly different every time. A different time of day, a different time of year, and various people walking by.

I think we’re on the downhill proper now. This is really rough territory here. Areas like this, it’s actually easier going up than it is going down. I am cooling off a bit, so I guess I’m not exerting as much as I did on the way up. But it’s really treacherous here. I’m having to slow down quite a bit. Let’s take the high road here, see if it’s any better. Still too many leaves, too many unknowns. And I’m sure there are a lot of people hiking this trail, but it’s right after a very windy storm, so whatever leaves that were left on these trees were certainly blown away. There were high winds. I don’t know what they were, but they were very high winds.

One of the great benefits of staying here at Mt. Magazine is that the cabins have hot tubs. And given how I feel now, the hot tub is going to feel very good when I get back. I’ll have my breakfast shake and sit in 104-degree water for a while. And hopefully that will make tomorrow easier if I decide to come out tomorrow. If I do, I will probably be on the shorter Turkey Hill trail or Benefield trail, which is marked as easy. There’s another easy trail called Will’s Apple Road trail. But it’s longer. It’s, I believe, what they call a multi-use trail, which probably means that you can take motorized vehicles on it. The Turkey Hill trail is an old wagon road. That’s what they call it. From I guess back when you had wagons and mules up here. I feel sorry for the mules. It’s kind of like when I look at Fayetteville. Fayetteville’s very hilly. And they’ve got the university there. It was built in the 1800s, and there were no trucks or machinery back then. I mean, they had machinery, and it might have been some steam machinery. So, getting up those hills, why they chose to build there is beyond me. It couldn’t have been easy.

See you can’t even grab hold of a tree without it moving. I see something through the trees ahead. It looks like it may be a building. We haven’t crossed 309 yet. And I can hear 309 so I think we’re definitely close. In fact, I can see it now. Can you see it? I think you can. Well, maybe you can’t. They don’t even have a pedestrian crossing here.

I’ve got to stay vigilant, even though I’m tired. Work through the tired. I think that’s one of the keys to success in life. You’ve got to work when you’re tired. Or when you’re tired of it. There’s the maintenance crew emptying the trash at the Greenfield picnic area. Well, those BCAAs should be kicking in and rebuilding muscle, ready for the big whey protein food that’s to come. My legs are shaking, folks. Not because this is a super difficult trail. It’s just challenging for the point in my fitness that I am at right now. But I’m glad I was able to do it.

So, I hope you’ve enjoyed this. I certainly have, and remember if you’ve got the fever, keep it, and if you don’t, catch it, and I will talk to you next time on Running: A FEVER.