Bald and Speckled Mountain
I love living only 45 minutes away from mountains. There is nothing more soothing yet inspiring. At first I feared my hiking companions were more interested in the aerobic activity of hiking than enjoying the beauty that surrounded us. They hit the trails and we're off at a pace that I feared I wouldn't be able to keep for very long. We seem to race along the first section of the trail and I felt a bit of disappointment. Oh that's an awesome tree, ooo what kind of plant is that, wow look a cave. I was wishing Blaine was there with me. We made it out to the pond and I snapped my first pic of the day. Thankfully after that the steep terrain forced my companions to slow it down a bit and I was able to better enjoy my surroundings. My imagination was racing and scenes from some of my stories found new settings as I hiked along the trail. In a gentlemanlike gesture the hemlocks extended out their branches to offer aid as I made my way up the steep inclines. I made a point to take each "hand" offered me and soon my palms were sticky with sap. Over head the sounds of the trees rubbing one against another in the wind made Al say "The ents are talking" Oh yeah I said "It's an Ent Moot!" My mind was buzzing and there was magic everywhere. I imagined myself a wood sprite trying to get a litle closer to listen in on the conversation. As we rounded the next corner a large rock jutting off the side of the mountain hid what looked like a cave whose entrance was almost unnoticeable at first glance. There it is! There is the doorway into the ents secret meeting hall. I wanted to get closer and peak inside but my friends were already so far ahead. It's a good thing because like I said the rock was jutting off the side of the mountain and it might not have been such a safe thing to get any closer. I left behind my imaginings for a moment and sprinted up the hill to catch up. Yes I actually sprinted! I'm getting stronger I tell you. We made it to the top of Bald Mountain and I wanted to just sit and enjoy the lush greenness below but Speckled Mountain was our destination and the others were moving again. I snapped some more pictures and back on the trail we went. Now I sometimes forget my friend Al is a writer. I guess I always picture him as more of a journalist than a creator of fiction. We entered a part of the trail where the hemlocks seem to canopy just over head and enclose the path blocking most of the light above. It was really quite gorgeous and sort of homey to me. Like an entry way into a hidden village. Al saw it much differently. "Back through the haunted forest," he says, "where Jason waits to get you" I paused a moment and looked about. There was nothing scary about this place to me. Funny how people see the same place from completely different perspectives. His wasn't even close to the same feelings those woods conjured in me. We made it all the way to the summit of Speckled and despite a little soreness in my heels from the friction of my boots I wasn't as tired as I had expected. If this is intermediate hell I may be able to do an expert hike? Ok maybe not yet. We found a nice spot and had our lunch. I found my sandwich (from sam's) to be loaded down with tomatoes. Now recently I've been given foods I didn't like as a child another chance and instead of picking out all those tomatoes I decided to give them a try again. Let see it was almost 10 years ago when I last ate a raw tomato and almost puked so who knows maybe something has changed and guess what, it has. The tomatoes mixed in with the green peppers, cheese, lettuce, cucumbers and pickles actually weren't very noticable. Not even a slight gag reflex - weird. I still don't see me craving a tomato but they're not so bad anymore. It's funny because I was just telling Blaine how I can't stand them. See my body is always out to contradict my mind.
I was a bit disappointed that Tania couldn't seem to stop talking about work while we ate. She went on and on about crap at work the entire break. I wanted to lay back and look up at the sky above and not even think about work but being a good friend I listened and quietly wished for some peace. The weather had been perfect the entire hike up but suddenly grew colder as the wind began to really pick up. I actually was getting cold as we packed up for the descent down. The way down we saw a Herron over head soaring on the wind and found a patch of rather sad looking lady slippers. Oh I forgot to mention the frog that crossed our path on the first mile up. I got a picture of him and he is actually sitting on a lady slipper. i guess those flowers aren't as rare as everyone thinks. Once we were back on Bald we passed three couples on their way up and with the last the lady did not look like she was having a good time. I hope that wasn't a first date for them! Although I think a hike is an awesome first date...but that's just me.
So roundtrip the hike was almost 5 hours and it felt really good. I got home at 4:30 and suddenly fatigue slammed into me like a wall. I laid down meaning only to take an hour nap but didn't wake up until almost 11. Then I went back to bed at 1am and still slept another 8 hours. It was a good day.