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Saddleback Mountain Trail, 7 Sept 2009
Sep. 11th, 2009 11:37 amWe went hiking this weekend!
We chose an easy, mostly level trail. Of course, I forgot the trail guidebook which would have told me the full circuit was 3.8mi, not the 2mi it appeared to be on the map. Oops.
We started out at the South River Falls picnic area, walked downhill on the South River Falls trail until it met with the AT. We turned south on the AT, walked until it met a fire road, then turned left, and left again to get to the Saddleback Mountain Trail.
We'd walked almost a mile when we came upon a PATC trail hut. Ronan declared it snack time. Whiskey agreed.
Ronan asked about the map, so Tom explained how a map works. Ronan then had to figure out where the water goes. So Tom showed him a river on the map and they followed it.
Anyhow, Ronan walked, jumped, and ran for the better part of the first two miles. Then he had a meltdown, nursed in the woods, and fell asleep on Tom's shoulder. We managed to get him situated in the wrap for a front carry and the last mile and a half was a cinch. It's nice to meander with a toddler, but two miles at toddler speed is actually pretty tiring. So much waiting, anticipation, and frustration at realizing you have to cover just as much distance in order to get back to the car right at the point when you are *done*.
Still, he had fun. There were things to see. We touched touch-me-not, looked at mushrooms, saw bear scat, and talked about springs.
We chose an easy, mostly level trail. Of course, I forgot the trail guidebook which would have told me the full circuit was 3.8mi, not the 2mi it appeared to be on the map. Oops.
We started out at the South River Falls picnic area, walked downhill on the South River Falls trail until it met with the AT. We turned south on the AT, walked until it met a fire road, then turned left, and left again to get to the Saddleback Mountain Trail.
We'd walked almost a mile when we came upon a PATC trail hut. Ronan declared it snack time. Whiskey agreed.
Ronan asked about the map, so Tom explained how a map works. Ronan then had to figure out where the water goes. So Tom showed him a river on the map and they followed it.
Anyhow, Ronan walked, jumped, and ran for the better part of the first two miles. Then he had a meltdown, nursed in the woods, and fell asleep on Tom's shoulder. We managed to get him situated in the wrap for a front carry and the last mile and a half was a cinch. It's nice to meander with a toddler, but two miles at toddler speed is actually pretty tiring. So much waiting, anticipation, and frustration at realizing you have to cover just as much distance in order to get back to the car right at the point when you are *done*.
Still, he had fun. There were things to see. We touched touch-me-not, looked at mushrooms, saw bear scat, and talked about springs.
