Hiking

Hiking Just one of the beautiful views on the protected land around PRV
Laurie and Shania hike Bear Mountain Hiking and camping on Mt. Graylock - a Mountain of Magnitude! Chapter 1 - Lesson learned on a Saturday walk Chapter 2 - Losing Max and Finding a Mansion Chapter 3 - Soggy and Beautiful Woods Chapter 4 - Hiking through the Eyes of a Child
Lesson learned on a Saturday morning walk An adventure in our PRV woods What a beautiful morning Saturday was. Quickly washing my face, slipping jeans, t-shirt, light jacket, and hiking shoes on, I grabbed my camera and my dogs and stepped out. Oh, I also grabbed my cell phone, which turned out to be very fortuitous.
The morning before I had noticed some photogenic mushrooms on the island in front of 35 Lexington . One was actually curled up. I wanted to snap shots in the early morning sunlight. It was 6:20a.m. when I took this photo.
Continuing on around the block, I decided to walk the path into the woods a bit. I’ve never gone too far in, but I’m looking for good trails to hike and wanted to see it a bit more. I had my new hiking boots on and most of my skin was covered for mosquitoes, but other than that, I wasn’t prepared for a hike.
We ventured in. Roxie and Max were loving it. The sun was beginning to stream in, very few bugs out at that point, it was delightful. I took a few pictures.
I’d never ventured quite that far in but I began seeing orange arrows and flags serving as markers. I thought, "This is a well-marked trail, I certainly can’t get lost". So, off we went into unfamiliar territory; me, my two curious little dogs and my directionally challenged mind.
Over stone paths, stone walls, muddy sections, sections almost covered with fern, mossy trees, rocky hills, even spotting the fluffy backend of some animal (deer?) It was fun and we were getting a bit of a workout! When I began to get thirsty and a little lightheaded I took stock of our situation. I did not bring water, hadn’t eaten breakfast or even had a glass of water before we left. Regretfully, I decided we needed to turn back for the time being. Telling my canines it was time to go home, we turned back and retraced our steps.

I thought it odd that the orange markers had turned yellow, but thought, what the heck, they still mark the trail! About half an hour later I admitted we were lost. Still on good trails with lots of markers, but not our particular trail. Thinking about what I could learn from this experience, I decided I would not take a hike unprepared again and in the pack would be pink (or florescent fuschia or purple or turquoise) ribbon for me to mark my own trails! Taking out my cell phone (told you it was fortuitous that I took it!), I called hubby. He answered. I said "we’re lost!" I wasn’t too worried since it was morning and we would have to come out somewhere with these trails, but I was thirsty and tired. Bob came to the beginning of the trail and called me on his cell phone. Then he yelled my name. I couldn’t hear him! And he can yell pretty loud! He actually thought about borrowing Lenny’s 4-wheeler to ‘rescue’ me. Some of you might have heard someone yelling “MIIICCCCHHHH” and wondered what the heck that was! We called each other on the cells and I kept backtracking to try to find something familiar, even though all the backtracking caused everything to look familiar! I tried to go downhill since that felt right. I found a little man-made bridge THREE times and also a meadow THREE times! Plenty of Lennie tracks too! Finally, I heard Bob yell my name. Boy, that felt good. From that point, with him coming in and my using his voice to navigate, we met up. I said, “Boy, is it good to see you!” Roxie and Max ran to him, probably thinking, “Please don’t let mom take us in the woods again!” No, actually they really loved the adventure. Bob said he tracked us by looking for their little paw prints in the mud. We came out of the woods at 9:30a.m. My little adventure took 3 hours. Next June, I will be hiking the Grand Canyon with my family. Bob said he is going to stand at the ridge and call “MIIICCCCHHHH” so we can find our way out ;) Seriously, if you are into hiking, there are lots of trails and they go on and on and on…just make sure you mark the one you take ;) Have you enjoyed our woods? Tell us your story.