Hopping to Hadley

Yay for midterms eating my time!

But anyways, on the 16th, my mom and I headed up to Hadley Mt. again. I'm starting to think that whenever she and I go hiking, there is a strange pull from the house that never lets us leave. At 9:00 we stuffed the car with out ski poles, jackets, gaiters, lunches and gloves, then we climbed in and pulled out of the driveway. Oh wait - did I say gloves? No, we realized 100 ft down the road that we had both forgotten them; so we turned around, parked back in the driveway and went into the house to find our gloves. Five minutes later we were back in the car and 100 ft back down the road. My mom couldn't find her sunglasses, so we turned around and idled in the driveway while she went to look for them. She didn't even make it to the door before she felt them hooked into her back pocket. So, try three, we were 100 ft down the road and we were laughing so hard about how everyone must think we were crazy.

So after our fabulous dance, we headed out to Hadley. Driving down Tower Rd. (the dirt road that the parking lot for the trail head is on) we passed some hunters and mom gave them quite a look, I'm just glad she didn't seem paranoid about getting shot for the rest of the trip! :)

We pulled into the parking lot around 10, and we proceeded to bundle up. I was rocking my gaiters, a three in one jacket, a ski pole and some fleece gloves (I had an extra windbreaker in my pack). My mom was rocking gaiters, a fleece pullover, a fleece vest, a heavy duty wind-resistant jacket, and two ski poles. We sprayed up to protect ourselves from the doom-bugs (aka: ticks) and we headed up the trail.

It had rained a few days the week before and the weather kept telling the high elevation regions to 'watch for snow.' Fortunately we never saw any snow, but we sure saw a lot of water. The trail follows a stream up the mountain for most of the time and it was as high as we had ever seen it. In a few places where it crossed the trail, I got to try out my photography skills ... and my waterproof shoes. Everything went swell and my feet remained dry. :)

Quite a few people passed us as they were coming back down. As with every time I have hiked this trail, they reassure us that the summit is worth it. I guess it's a polite thing to say, but hey - don't we look like we hike often (with mom's fanny pack and my heavy jacket)? ;)

One thing that I just couldn't get over during this hike was the leaves. Not just the colors, but more of the way that the trees changed. Leaf color was so dependent on elevation it was insane! One tree could have no leaves in it's top branches, A few red leaves below that, more yellow below that, and the lots of green near the ground. I know that temperature is a main factor in the leaves changing, but this was fabulous! Or at least I thought it was, being a biology major and all. ;) I hope the first picture and the picture above can do the idea some justice.

Almost at the summit there is a trail that heads off on the right that leads to an old ranger's cabin. We stopped there and had lunch (we bought subway on the way to the mountain) before venturing up to the cold summit. The wind was bitter and the bare rock offered no shelter. I debated climbing the fire tower, and decided to go halfway up. I was willing to subject myself to even harsher wind just for some pictures, but I wasn't going to be too crazy.

I'm not sure what way these photos are facing, I'll have to figure it out.

I must admit, we didn't stay on the summit long, and we were definitely glad to get back into the protection of the trees. But it was definitely a nice hike, and one that I needed. The outdoors is definitely something that calls to you. I'm not sure how to explain it if you don't know what I mean, but it's a call that you need to answer.

So here's to me hopefully remembering to post this coming Friday and to tell you about my hike with Lauren and Robinson.

Peace,
G