1 post tagged “hike”
This weekend is an interesting one for me and my kids for several reasons:
- It's short – I only have a few days with them, because this was "release week" at work, and my regular Friday telecommuting was just not going to fly. :(
- My mom isn't here – she went to New Jersey for most of the weekend to make a long-overdue visit to her parents. (The rest of us are still long overdue to visit...)
- It's Carson's birthday! Happy birthday, Carson!
- It's the first weekend of what I believe is known as "summer."
In what is either a surprising development or a completely predictable one, all of the kids were very enthusiastic! Drawing on her experience with past field trips, Peyton suggested that we go to Sugarloaf Mountain. I did some quick research and gave it the thumbs up. Their "white" trail was only 2.5 miles... a reasonable walk for a party including a four-year-old, right? We packed water, a picnic dinner, a camera and my little GPS receiver (for fun, not serious navigation) and got on the road!
In short, we all enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. The weather was great, the trail beautiful and the interesting terrain kept us amused. We saw precious little fauna, but the flora was pretty cool – the kids became very interested in moss and fungus, and Logan even schooled me on the taxonomy of living things.
We'd picked up a map at the beginning of the trek, and the kids took turns carrying the GPS and keeping the rest of us informed of our speed and distance traveled. Peyton tried her hand at orienteering by matching our track log on the GPS' screen to the paper map. She did great... and I love hearing my kids say "this is so cool!!" :)
The day wasn't without its minor hitches, however. Kadin decided to take his backpack off and lay down on it, smashing some of the bananas meant for dinner. Bug spray would have been a good idea. Oh, and we did run out of water about 3/4 of the way through the walk. Oops.
And by the way, don't believe the park's map when it says the trail is 2.5 miles long. Near what we thought was the end of the walk, the kids were very excited that we'd supposedly managed to find our way all the way back to the car. But a few tenths of a mile before we were meant to arrive, I started to notice that there was no way we were going to make a circuit; the ends just didn't meet up. The GPS agreed - the car was still 0.6mi away (as the crow flies). Schwuh?!
Somehow, this last half of a mile was all uphill and by far the rockiest segment of the trail. Carson and Logan were starting to wind down, and our whole party was getting very hot and sweaty. But with the promise of A/C and cool drinks just a few thousand feet away, we managed to make it there with a minimum of whining. And in the end, everyone was happy we went hiking today... and we're excited to do it again soon!
On a completely unrelated note, you might be wondering (but you probably aren't) what is up with the basement. Well, since you didn't ask, things are progressing well. Framing has been completed, and electrical wrangling has begun. I'd love to start installing the minor low-voltage wiring I want to do for the TV/stereo, but I'm not sure whether I'm allowed. The last thing I want to do is get on the bad side of an official inspector person, so I'll hold off until I can get an answer from the electo-man. Now, here are a few pictures to satisfy your inhuman lust for basement photography:
P.S. An update on Amy: She ended up in the E.R. on Friday with a pretty serious infection of one of the lymph node biopsy sites under her arms. It was pretty scary, but she's now on antibiotics and is on the road to recovery. Thank you to everyone who sent her good wishes, directly and through me. Your thoughts are very much appreciated...
We'd picked up a map at the beginning of the trek, and the kids took turns carrying the GPS and keeping the rest of us informed of our speed and distance traveled. Peyton tried her hand at orienteering by matching our track log on the GPS' screen to the paper map. She did great... and I love hearing my kids say "this is so cool!!" :)
The day wasn't without its minor hitches, however. Kadin decided to take his backpack off and lay down on it, smashing some of the bananas meant for dinner. Bug spray would have been a good idea. Oh, and we did run out of water about 3/4 of the way through the walk. Oops.
And by the way, don't believe the park's map when it says the trail is 2.5 miles long. Near what we thought was the end of the walk, the kids were very excited that we'd supposedly managed to find our way all the way back to the car. But a few tenths of a mile before we were meant to arrive, I started to notice that there was no way we were going to make a circuit; the ends just didn't meet up. The GPS agreed - the car was still 0.6mi away (as the crow flies). Schwuh?!
Somehow, this last half of a mile was all uphill and by far the rockiest segment of the trail. Carson and Logan were starting to wind down, and our whole party was getting very hot and sweaty. But with the promise of A/C and cool drinks just a few thousand feet away, we managed to make it there with a minimum of whining. And in the end, everyone was happy we went hiking today... and we're excited to do it again soon!
