Date: 2019-03-13
From: Dennytown Roaf 

To: Long Hill Road 
Miles today: 8.3
Weather: overcast clouds

We got off to an early start this morning. As Baby Girl and I made our first climb we caught the last few minutes of another beautiful sunrise.  The terrain today was much like yesterday. A constant mix of little UPs with little DOWNs. It¢s down to 2 or 3 inches of snow at max. Theres a lot of barren ground showing through now too. Another 3 or 4 days and the snow will be all but gone. One of our early morning DOWNs brought us to an old mountain road. From this road we could hear the rushing water from a nearby waterfall and at the same time morning birds were chirping joyfully. The sun shone down right there, and that moment was filled with splendor. Baby Girl was in awe once again. I cannot tell you how much I love the moments when she¢s just blown away by God¢s natural wonders! She didn¢t want to leave that space...I didn¢t either. All too soon we had to get moving again. We started back up with a Little bouldering. The snow IS melting more and more every day. That melted snow freezes over into ice every night. That¢s what was on these boulders. A lot of black ice!  We put positivity into action and threw it out into the universe that we were NOT going to fall today! That was our mantra as we hiked our fall free day! My hip isn¢t ready for another one yet. On the top we both caught the faint scent of pine. That scent came and went all day. It makes for a pleasant hike. We had a good bit of ridge hiking, but at one point we found ourselves hiking on top of a man made rock wall. This one was more modern. I¢m pretty sure it was a retention wall of some sort. Eventually we crossed over a major roadway and into Fahnestock State Park. The trail right there took us around Canopus Lake. It was frozen and beautiful.  We came upon a couple of sawed off tree stumps. The sun was shining right on them. So inviting...LUNCH! It was the perfect spot.  This afternoon we enjoyed a little wildlife. The temp was up to 43 degrees and the critters are getting busy. We saw a chipmunk scurrying around the forest floor. Baby Girl loved it! There were also lots of birds and a few squirrels. Every afternoon this week I¢ve seen a hawk. I just love seeing wildlife. As we were preparing to start our climb up Shenandoah Mountain we heard gun shots. Hmmm I don¢t believe anything is in season for hunting right now. I do know the deer are out in droves. We followed one of many sets of deer tracks right on up that mountain. It was a long slow steady climb to the summit at 1282ft There were a couple of good views on the way up. I remember looking down at the frozen lake thinking my dad would love this day. It¢s technically winter, but it¢s warm. Spring is in the air. I had a clear picture in my mind of my dad. He was mushrooming and smiling with every morel he put in his bag. When we reached the summit we found that someone had painted an American flag right on top. It was partially snow covered,but the bright red, white, and blue could still be seen where the snow was thin and melting. There was a little bit of bouldering going down, but mostly it was just a pleasant hike. Before we knew it, there was the parking lot where Papa Big Swig would pick us up. We only waited about 3 minutes before he arrived. He¢s like Old Faithful, I am blessed. Until Next Time Blue Raccoon (2018/2019) Where¢s your faith?