I've been pondering the differences between hiking and backpacking vs. road walking and road walking trips. This pondering will likely occupy my mind for some time. I know the differences for myself, but hey, I'm trying to sell other people on the idea that walking on the roads and road walking trips can be as fun as hiking and backpacking. I understand it is a tough sell to some, and those aren't the people I'm trying to reach. I'm more interested in reaching people who are already interested. These people are seeming more information.
Road walking is not hiking or backpacking. Road walking is a different activity although much of the gear is the same. I do both, and for me the state of mind is somewhat different in each activity. As I ate a banana and raisins on a toasted whole wheat tortilla, I decided road walking is more akin to bicycling than it is to hiking and backpacking. When riding a bicycle, I focused on the journey more than on the destination. The destination was an excuse to take the journey.
I'm still pondering this concept and I think it will take several posts in the future to define road walking. For now, I'll leave it unfinished.
This morning, I started out before sunrise walking on the four lane. There is a wide shoulder, so I wasn't worried about traffic. I found the oncoming headlights annoying at first, but soon learned to look down before they got too close. I don't think I would like to hike for a couple of hours on a busy road.
I started looking for places to stealth camp. It rained almost all night last night. Everything that was low was wet and buggy, so I started looking high. I found this noise suppression wall on a high spot that had some bushes. It's important that headlights from the cars don't reach the spot. As long as a person made camp after dark and broke camp before sunrise, they could camp behind those bushes just to the right of center. I guess I'd have to try it once to see how it really works.
The sunrise on the desert was beautiful this morning. I decided to cross the road to get a better picture.
It might be tempting to walk to that distant tree on the far right, and I've done it. However, there is a deep arroyo on the way that is difficult to cross. Shortcuts can be longer than they appear.
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