Ryan Leeds

I went on a hike today!

This would be exciting under any circumstances, but today it was extra exciting because my hip and knee started flaring up again and I'm walking with my cane.

The hike was an outing for my trans* group and while I'm the only one who ever walks with a cane and up until recently was fine, the facilitator specifically wanted to make sure that it was disability friendly.* There were a few steep inclines where my cane couldn't get any grip, but I had someone behind me. She asked if it was okay to put her hand on my back and at that point I had to say yes. I almost fell back a couple of times, not able to get my balance, but she steadied me. There were a lot of areas where they had rock steps to help me get up, rather than just erosion, and that was fine. (Although a lot of the stairs had huge steps down, which I managed with.) It was just nice to get out of the city. I'm loving LA, but being in such a busy city makes me miss nature.

Griffith Park is just beautiful. It's the 10th largest municipal park in North America. We went and had lunch in a picnic area that used to be part of the old zoo. The lion habitat is still there, which was really cool. We also had a pastor who has a degree in geology teach us about the area. All in all, it's been a really good day, even if I know I'll suffer for it tomorrow. (And I have a half a milk walk to church.)

*I don't really consider myself disabled because I don't want to appropriate a term. I do have to walk with a can regularly, but more often than not, my leg is fine.