Category: Hikes

As a warm-up hike before our overnight trip to Sawyer Pond, we hit Black Cap. It's a fairly easy amble up to the rocky summit, but the roasting temperatures and oppressive humidity made it seem worse than it was. At the summit we wandered a bit, trying to discover if there was any kind of a ledge or outlook around. In the process, we stumbled across a small memorial for Kathleen J. Etter, the late owner of a vegetarian cafe in North Conway called "Cafe Chimes". There was an engraved stone at the base of a tree, and the branches of the tree were well-laden with windchimes of all forms. It was actually quite a touching gesture, even though I didn't know the woman in life. It made me happy to know that she had friends, and that they would want to memorialize her in that way. Next time I travel to black cap, I will be bring a windchime with me to add to the tree.

We went to Maudslay State Park over the long weekend - twice, in fact. The first time, we stepped out of the van, put brand new batteries in the camera, turned it on, and it immediately started complaining about dead batteries. It's actually been doing that a lot lately, so we finally decided to buy a new camera, and went back to Maudslay on Monday. The kids loved both trips, pictures notwithstanding. The did a great job walking, and we had a nice little picnic lunch by the river. Sean saw a lot of boats, a few jet skis, and he swears he saw a submarine. :) We probably racked up about 2-3 miles each time. The loved the whole experience, which I find really encouraging - as I've got high hopes for them wanting to hike more with me in the future.

The weather is finally starting to cool off, and Sean and I have a lot of catching up to do with our outdoor activities. Today he went on his second hike. He did great - for such a little man, he's got a ton of stamina. I only carried him at the very end for the fun of it - he loves the view from my shoulders, and if i bounce him around as we walk it cracks him up.

Today we took Sean on his first hike - we count this one as his first because he did all of the walking himself. So his career total is now 1/3 of a mile. Woohoo! He's on the board!

We took him to the Cibolo Nature Center here in Boerne. Lori and I used to go there all the time, and I still take the dogs there pretty frequently for long walks. We took him down to the creek (for those non-Texans, apparently down here you're supposed to pronounce that 'crick'), and he waded and splashed for a good hour. Good times were had by all. And as a bonus, a couple of these photos are some of my favorite I've ever taken of Sean, hands down. I ordered one of them (the portrait where he is looking up and to the left) as an 8x10 for my office at work.

Since I wouldn't get another chance to hike up north for a year or two, Dad and I decided to take a hike on Hedgehog Mountain in the White Mountains, in spite of the rain. We expected to get soaked, and therefore enjoyed ourselves even once we did. We hiked out to a what would probably be a nice little overlook on a clear day. Even on a rainy day, it was a decent view. I don't have any pictures, as there really was no break in the rain and I didn't dare take the camera out.

Adam and I took a day hike to the fire tower on Pawtuckaway State Park's South Mountain. The day was overcast and on the verge of rain all day, and the mosquitos were out in full force. On top of that, Adam and I both forgot to bring any bug spray. We did, however, see some wildlife of the "won't suck my blood" variety. We saw lots of salamanders (as you can see in the photos), a half-dozen goldfinches, a red-throated hummingbird, and lots and lots of chipmunks.

Mike, Dad, and I went on a night hike in Pawtuckaway State Park. It got down into the 20's while we were out there, and we could see the frost forming on the fallen leaves. We took the boys with us (Dugan, Bailey, and Cody), and they had a blast. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I got. :)