Sligo Creek Trail Condition: Clear & Awkward

The trail from Silver Spring to UMD is mostly clear, except for countable-on-two-hands patches of ice.

I biked home at dusk. It was getting dark as I turned off the main trail and onto an uphill exit ramp. The ramp is more like a narrow strip, not enough asphalt to accommodate two people at the same time. I saw up ahead a woman walking down towards the trail and me. I didn't ring my bell or anything, just figured she saw me and my bright-ass headlight. I slowly pedaled up the strip and she didn't seem to be deviating her course. I was just starting to wonder if she expected me to ride off of the strip when she looked up and yelled "Oh!!!" about two feet in front of me.

I said awkwardly "I thought you must've seen me..."

She said, "Hhhhno, I... was in another world." She waved her hand over her eyes.

"I really thought you must've seen me," I said, not reducing the awkwardness.

She just stood there. Then she got over to the side and waited for me to pass her. I slowly did so.