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Mile 864.  Tortoise tried out a loop made up of multiple trails in the Highlands neighborhood of Coral Canyon this afternoon.  It started with a steep climb from the lower portion of Coral Canyon to the ridge, then followed with a loop that included both sides of Telegraph Road.  So, Lou got picture happy in every direction along the way.  Come see ...

Cheerio!

Just climbed the Mt. Everest trail, AKA Cardiac Arrest.  It does have an 11% grade
for about a third of a mile.  Now headed southwest on the Highland trail

Approaching the end of the Highland trail near the signal light
at the top of the hill in Telegraph Road.

Now on the Black Canyon trail on the east side of the ridge south of Telegraph

At the end of this trail it feeds you on to the Zion View trail

There is a little bit of a Zion view, but the best Zion views come later at
the top of Highland

The Zion View trail lasts a block, then feeds you into this cute pocket park.

On the other side of the park is the Rock Creek Trail, but

in even a shorter distance, it feeds you on to Canyon Peak trail.  The sign
anticipates future development.  For now the trail only goes to the right.
Nice view of much of Washington below.

Now Lou heads north on the west side of the ridge.

And gets excited when he sees some pretty purple flowers.

Before long it is time to cross back over Telegraph.  The trail on the west side
of the ridge on that side of Telegraph is called the Crown King trail.

Telegraph is just to the left of this trail.  Tortoise always smiles when
there are trees and shrubs separating him from a busy road.

Another view of the city before the trail resumes heading north

with nice views of the Pine Valley mountains to the left and homes to the right.

The trail is purposely designed to give the walker extra hills to climb.  Nice!

The mountains of Zion are in the distance

at the north end of the Highland Trail

Soon Lou has completed his loop and starts

back down the Mount Everest trail.

Today's walk was 4.05 miles, with a 4.4 tortoise rating earned by climbing 380 feet in the 2.03 mile uphill portion.  Average elevation was 3057.  This walk burned 605 calories in 1:16:47 hours.

Here are the overall stats so far for 2015:

864.65 miles walked which is 86.29% of Lou's 2015 goal.  On this day in 2014, Tortoise had walked 848.89 miles.

264:55:47 hours walked which is 84.64% of the 2015 goal (which is to walk 1 hour a day on the 313 days other than Sunday in the year).

46,007 total feet climbed, compared with 41,525 feet on this day in 2014.

129,630 calories burned.

80.83% of the year has passed.

Lou has walked 142 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11.  Overall he has walked on 245 of the 254 non-Sundays in 2015, a 96.46% consistency rating.  This compares with 241 days walked in the same period in 2014 (a 94.88% consistency rating).

The purpose of the percentages is to have a higher percentage of both distance and of time walked than of the year.  This tells Tortoise that he is on track.  Yes, this is more numbers than you are likely interested in, all Tortoise can say is he's really good at setting high goals and having them slip away because he doesn't do them every, every day.  (If you doubt this, compare Tortoise's walking record up until 2013 with 2014 or 2015 ... for him, it is what it takes to be consistent.  He hopes you find what works for you).

And now for today's walking thought ...

"After His Resurrection Jesus Christ visited His other sheep.  He called and ordained twelve disciples, and with that authority, they ministered to the people.  The Lord Jesus Christ Himself stood among them.  The Lord asked them to kneel and pray.  I am not sure if the newly called and ordained twelve disciples were overwhelmed with their calling, but the scripture says, 'It came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his countenance did smile upon them, and the light of his countenance did shine upon them.' (3 Nephi 19:25) During the last general conference, a smile lightened my burdens in an immediate and extraordinary way."

-- Elder Hugo Montoya, "Tested and Tempted -- but Helped", October 2015 LDS General Conference

The tortoise is smiling!