Driskill Mountain
Arkansas
June 2012
Due to my damnable blisters today, we choose a shorter hike than the one we originally planned, the one we really want to do. We’ve never hiked in Arkansas before and we were excited to be discovering a brand new land. We intended to hike ten miles south from Cove Lake across relatively flat terrain, and then in the last two miles, climb one bitch of a mountain. It looked like great fun!
Instead we cover four comparatively flat miles on the bluff from the Visitors Center to the high point. Because of my damnable blisters, even this short hike is painful. Exasperating too. How does an experienced hiker like me get blisters! The nerve!
Constant pain, an unrelenting distraction, a pure annoyance. Out of frustration, I throw my hiking stick into the brush, shouting, “What else can go wrong!”
Lisa is behind me. She remains patient as she witnesses my tantrum. I calm down. She quietly says, “What else can go wrong? Well, cowboy, you just threw your hiking stick into the poison ivy.”