A hike on a fall day
I was "family day" inspired on Saturday. I announced at 10:00 (after running 8 miles on this gorgeous day) that we were going to have a family day hiking up sleeping giant with the dog(sleeping giant is about 10 minutes away-a mountain that has a castle at the top and a beautiful view of Long Island sound, etc.). Of course we had some objections (mainly Katie-surprise), but Connor jumped right out of bed and showered, Brendan teased Katie and then proceeded to get ready and pack his own little lunch box (will come up later in the story), Keera was ready within seconds and Bob just goes with the flow. A little enticement of Duncan Donuts goes a long way.
Off we went. Everyone was so excited. We decided to go off the beaten path because what fun is it to go up a mountain on a gravel trail? Well, mom miscalculated the first path, nevertheless, we did end up on the regular path again. Unfortunately, I lost everyone's confidence in me within seconds. Bob picked up a walking stick (it was a little bit of a risky "nonpath"; and Connor ended up carrying the dog (Grady is a bit of a lapdog-not very tough).
We were on the main gravel path for about 10 feet when Brendan discovered the white marks of a white trail and we decided to explore it. About five minutes into it we realized we were climbing up, as Connor declared, "a 45 degree angle of rocks". Again the dog had to be carried-it was quite an outing for him.
I was worried about Keera, being 4 and all, but decided if need be, we would carry her. Well, that worry passed pretty quickly as Katie and Keera were the "line leaders", and a good 5 minutes ahead of us, at every turn. As a matter of fact, at this point, they were so far ahead of us, they took the wrong route. We were able to call to them and while Keera came back to us, Katie was determined to "meet" us by moving in a triangle path. While I waited for Keera, Connor guided Katie down a steep rock route in order to meet us. Of course we ended up going back up the rock route as we progressed forward on the path, so in essence we heard from Katie for five minutes about how we made her come down the rocks only to go back up them at a different angle-she left out the part that the angle we chose was a "we love life" angle because no way would we have made it up the other way.
We decided to take a break and boys will be boys- off Connor and Brendan headed to explore and sure enough they found a cave that went down about 35 feet, according to them. They were quite enthralled with it, to the point where "the big boy", Bob, had to also go explore. In the meantime, Katie, Keera and I went further on what was now the "blue trail". We had discovered that there was a choice at this point to either continue on the white trail or head off on the blue trail. When confronted with that choice, Katie declared, "Blue is a reasonable color." She will never hear the end of that from Connor, who thought that was the most ridiculous way to choose a trail. At any rate, we switched to the blue trail. Although I have been on this mountain many times since I was little, I had to admit, I had never gone on the blue trail. This did not go over too well with my "comrades". Everytime we heard people, we got a little excited. Of course wouldn't you know-these kids eat, drink and sleep with their cell phones, but do you think they would bring them on a hike, for which you might need it? No-quite the generation.
Katie spotted someone and got all excited...."People....I see someone." Brendan said, "She's old." As I looked ahead, she was about as "old" as me. I said, "Well, good...if someone old can do this trail, so can we." Connor looked at her and said, "Mom, she's wearing a fanny pack....she's hardcore." To get back to the dog, at this point, either he was being carried continuously or he was marking a twig along the way.
After following fanny pack woman, we made it to the gravel trail again, but the blue trail went beside it and while Katie, Keera , Connor and I chose the blue trail......Bob said, "Oh no...I"m taking the gravel path." Brendan chose the same with the dog. Keera was so excited to be this close to the castle. She said to Katie, "Is there going to be a princess inside?" Katie laughed.
Bob had brought the camera, conveniently, he decided this should be the Christmas photo and had someone take our picture. Connor was in Bart Simpson pajama pants (I tried to get him to change at home...I said i was not climbing a mountain with Bart....but it didn't work. His reply was I am not climbing a mountain with Virginia Tech.....I had borrowed a hat from Brendan to wear.) You'll know if Bob won when you see our Christmas picture.
The trip down was quite a bit more uneventful since we took the gravel path. Grady walked the whole way, meeting up with other dogs. Keera cried the whole way because she wanted to be line leader. We did make it back down the mountain, at which point the kids threw out the bribe I had offered before we started...."Food mom???" Brendan was the only prepared one as he whipped his sandwhich out of his lunchbox in the car.
All in all we survived and had some fun on the "hike on a fall day".
Off we went. Everyone was so excited. We decided to go off the beaten path because what fun is it to go up a mountain on a gravel trail? Well, mom miscalculated the first path, nevertheless, we did end up on the regular path again. Unfortunately, I lost everyone's confidence in me within seconds. Bob picked up a walking stick (it was a little bit of a risky "nonpath"; and Connor ended up carrying the dog (Grady is a bit of a lapdog-not very tough).
We were on the main gravel path for about 10 feet when Brendan discovered the white marks of a white trail and we decided to explore it. About five minutes into it we realized we were climbing up, as Connor declared, "a 45 degree angle of rocks". Again the dog had to be carried-it was quite an outing for him.
I was worried about Keera, being 4 and all, but decided if need be, we would carry her. Well, that worry passed pretty quickly as Katie and Keera were the "line leaders", and a good 5 minutes ahead of us, at every turn. As a matter of fact, at this point, they were so far ahead of us, they took the wrong route. We were able to call to them and while Keera came back to us, Katie was determined to "meet" us by moving in a triangle path. While I waited for Keera, Connor guided Katie down a steep rock route in order to meet us. Of course we ended up going back up the rock route as we progressed forward on the path, so in essence we heard from Katie for five minutes about how we made her come down the rocks only to go back up them at a different angle-she left out the part that the angle we chose was a "we love life" angle because no way would we have made it up the other way.
We decided to take a break and boys will be boys- off Connor and Brendan headed to explore and sure enough they found a cave that went down about 35 feet, according to them. They were quite enthralled with it, to the point where "the big boy", Bob, had to also go explore. In the meantime, Katie, Keera and I went further on what was now the "blue trail". We had discovered that there was a choice at this point to either continue on the white trail or head off on the blue trail. When confronted with that choice, Katie declared, "Blue is a reasonable color." She will never hear the end of that from Connor, who thought that was the most ridiculous way to choose a trail. At any rate, we switched to the blue trail. Although I have been on this mountain many times since I was little, I had to admit, I had never gone on the blue trail. This did not go over too well with my "comrades". Everytime we heard people, we got a little excited. Of course wouldn't you know-these kids eat, drink and sleep with their cell phones, but do you think they would bring them on a hike, for which you might need it? No-quite the generation.
Katie spotted someone and got all excited...."People....I see someone." Brendan said, "She's old." As I looked ahead, she was about as "old" as me. I said, "Well, good...if someone old can do this trail, so can we." Connor looked at her and said, "Mom, she's wearing a fanny pack....she's hardcore." To get back to the dog, at this point, either he was being carried continuously or he was marking a twig along the way.
After following fanny pack woman, we made it to the gravel trail again, but the blue trail went beside it and while Katie, Keera , Connor and I chose the blue trail......Bob said, "Oh no...I"m taking the gravel path." Brendan chose the same with the dog. Keera was so excited to be this close to the castle. She said to Katie, "Is there going to be a princess inside?" Katie laughed.
When we arrived at the castle, the three teenagers sat while Keera charged ahead to the top of the castle, mom following. Putting a four year old next to a 16, 13, 12 year old, you see how much energy little kids really do have. The 3 teenagers were a bit thirsty and hungry. I asked Brendan where his lunch box was and his reply was, "There were girls walking by when I got out of the car, so I didn't want to bring it." I said, "Did it occur to you that maybe it would be attractive to them that you were a prepared male?" Not only were they all hungry and thirsty, but we had picked the same day to climb as the boyscout troops of (America-I believe). There were a million of them running around with their little trail mixes and their bottles of water. I went so far as to suggest that we "borrow" some from one of the little chaps.
Bob had brought the camera, conveniently, he decided this should be the Christmas photo and had someone take our picture. Connor was in Bart Simpson pajama pants (I tried to get him to change at home...I said i was not climbing a mountain with Bart....but it didn't work. His reply was I am not climbing a mountain with Virginia Tech.....I had borrowed a hat from Brendan to wear.) You'll know if Bob won when you see our Christmas picture.
The trip down was quite a bit more uneventful since we took the gravel path. Grady walked the whole way, meeting up with other dogs. Keera cried the whole way because she wanted to be line leader. We did make it back down the mountain, at which point the kids threw out the bribe I had offered before we started...."Food mom???" Brendan was the only prepared one as he whipped his sandwhich out of his lunchbox in the car.
All in all we survived and had some fun on the "hike on a fall day".
Comments
Post a Comment