Hiking with the P's

My parents were in town and I took a few days off from work. We drove up the shore to do some hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail. We did a six mile out and back route from Castle Danger to Mike's Rock.


My Mom and Dad at 76 and 74 years old, respectively, are hiking machines. They knocked off 6 miles of rugged trail like it was a walk in the park.


Yellows were still on the trees near the lake, but the leaves were mostly off the trees when you got away from the lake.


Blue blazes on these trees were some of the very first blazes Susan and I painted on our two year project back in 2006-2007. Most of them have held up surprisingly well.


This hardwood section would have been amazing with fall colors about 6 days ago.


Views from Wolf Rock.

Yeah, I've hiked the AT

Susan and I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail back in 2001. I mention it often...just because it was such an incredible experience to spend 6 months backpacking a long-distance trail like the AT. However, I have never posted pictures from that trip on this "backpacking" blog. One reason is the pictures were not taken on a digital camera. We took over 600 pictures and had single copies developed when we finished. The best pictures were glued into a massive scrapbook. Often being cropped before being glued. We never thought to scan them before we assembled the scrapbook.

Recently I discovered a couple of poorly scanned pictures from that trip. They were used for a poster for a presentation we did on our trip. The first one is the final day on top of Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus of the trail. It was the culmination of our trip.


The second picture is one we both agree upon as our favorite picture from the trip. Amazing considering we took over 600 pictures and we both pick the same picture as our favorite. It was taken in the White Mountains of New Hampshire on Mt. Hight with Mount Washington soaring behind us. Why is it a favorite? It brings back the feeling of that morning. It had been an unusually hot and muggy trip in the Whites for August. It was unseasonably hot. This particular morning the heat had broken the night before with a cold front coming through. The cool morning air was refreshing and as we climbed our first peak of the day we were both in good spirits. A solo hiker just happened to be on Mt Hight as we reached the peak. He offered to take our picture. One of the few pictures with us both in the picture since it was usually me taking a picture of her or her taking a picture of me. The stunning landscape behind us helps as well.