Little Summer Adventures: Buck, Moreau, Prospect, and Kipp

 

With the weather warming up, I was excited to take Quinn on more outdoor adventures. As I've stated before, my goal is to slowly work him up to more and more challenging hikes. I do not want him to hate these outings.

June 2: Buck Mountain

I figured he was ready for a slightly more difficult hike, so we set off early in the morning on June 2 for Buck Mountain in Lake George. We arrived at Shelving Rock Rd at around 6:30am.

We started off in good spirits. The plants were blooming and the water was moving. This is a pretty trail despite parts of it currently running past an active logging operation.

The trail is very easy to follow and Quinn led the way much of the hike.

It only took a couple of stream crossings before the bugs started to swarm. Quinn hated the bugs. He really does not like the sound of them in his ears. Fortunately, I brought along my bug hat. This helped a lot.

As it gains elevation, the trail follows and crosses a stream much of the rest of way up.  As such, despite my best efforts, little feet did get wet. The bugs were still awful and Quinn was very annoyed by them. 

His spirits rose a little as we found more interesting terrain. Of course, he perked up quite a bit as we approached the summit. 

2.5 hours after we started, we reached the summit. 

The first order of business was snacks!

Quinn loved this summit. He was very happy to run around and play on Buck Mt. Unfortunately I had to cut our stay on the summit short because we had a social event to attend in the early afternoon. He expressed disappointment at having to leave prematurely, but he said "'Bye, mountain!" and we were off.

As he descended the mountain, Quinn complained strongly about his feet hurting. I checked him out and drew the conclusion that he'd outgrown his boots. There was almost no room in his toe box, so the descent hurt his toes. I gave him some assistance on the more tricky parts and we took some rests. Once we got to the flattish section, he was good to go.

I think Quinn didn't have as nice a time on this hike as on other hikes. The bugs were a huge issue and I wish I'd checked his boots beforehand. I think he's good for 5 miles distance otherwise.  We bought him a new pair of hiking boots for the Summer and I hope they last until the fall. I won't assume as much, though and make an effort to check this every time. Also, I think if we're doing a mountain hike, I'll make certain he has plenty of time to enjoy the summit in order to make the labor worth it in his mind.

I am very proud of Quinn for completing this hike. However, it was a tough one and I decided to throttle back on the difficulty of the next few hikes. 

July 22: Moreau

Last weekend, we spent all Saturday at Great Escape. Quinn told me he was interested in staying home the next day and I prepared to just take Sunny back to Shelving Rock Rd. for a quick morning hike. As I was leaving, Quinn said "I can go with you." Thirty minutes later, the entire family was headed to Moreau instead and that made my heart happy. 

We secured a picnic table by the beach. While Mom watched our stuff and chilled by the lake, Quinn, Sunny, and I set off up the Blue trail from the parking lot. It was a beautiful day with moderate temps and low humidity.

Quinn led the way the entire hike.

There were many deadfalls across the trail from the recent wind storms. We were able to clamber over them without much trouble.

Now that Quinn is a bit older, I started to explain the tenets of hiking a little at a time. Here we are learning to hike on the rock instead of the earth where possible.

We were moving slowly and Dad was practicing his own patience.

Here we are learning about herd paths and following the actual trail and blazes.

Quinn did a great job negotiating the rocky top half of the hike.

Sunny was a little annoyed at not being in the lead much of the way, but he was glad to be out.

There was more deadfall on the traverse from the stairs section to the boulder field. I'd forgotten how pretty this section of the trail is. Quinn started to complain a little at this point, pretending Sunny was asking if we're there yet. I reassured him there was a more interesting section coming up. 

We eventually came to the final boulder field before the summit.

Quinn's spirits rose as he faced a new and interesting challenge.

I chose to let him range ahead on his own. Partially, I wanted to ensure his safety by keeping Sunny back away from him. Mostly, however, I felt he'd do well with the confidence boost. He did an amazing job scaling the boulder field. I did give him some pointers along the way, but I honestly don't think he really needed it. 

Later, on the descent, I simply let Sunny range ahead of us while I stayed closer and helped him pick a safe path down.

We made it to the summit in about an hour and a half. Another hiker kindly snapped a photo of us. Quinn spent the next half hour or so throwing sticks and pebbles off the ledge while I chatted with the other hiker. Sunny played a little with the hiker's dog, Ruby. After some snacks were snacked, we made our way back down.

Quinn 2 years ago vs Quinn today. Such a big kid now.

I let Sunny run out some of his pent up energy.

Quinn was in very good spirits during the hike back down to the lake.

We spent the rest of the day playing in the sand and in the water. Quinn had fun playing with the other kids and we rough-housed in the water a bit. Then, we walked over to the ungoverned seciton of the beach to throw the stick for Sunny.

Sunny was very happy to engage in his retreiver instincts. Although he jealously guards toys in the back yard, he has no problem with "drop it" commands with the stick at the lake. 

This was a much more pleasant hike for Quinn and I think 3 to 4 miles is the sweet spot for the time being. Also, the promise of a summit and interesting scrambles are definitely something that keeps him going. It seems the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

We had a really great weekend. Even though I'm on call next week, we have a T-mobile modem so we might wash, rinse, and repeat for next weekend.

August 1: Prospect Mountain

Some acquaintances of mine had finished their NE 111 challenge and were about to celebrate with a hike up Prospect Mt. to watch the Lake George fireworks on Thursday. They'd given me a bunch of advice on doghiking over the past couple of years and I thought it would be nice to meet them. 

I asked Quinn if he wanted to have a normal night at home or if he wanted to stay up and hike the trail we hiked on Christmas Eve to watch fireworks, then hike back with headlamps on. Quinn chose to hike.  I knew it might be dicey to be hiking 3 hours past his bed time, but I'm really all about experiences with him these days and I decided to give it a go.

Although the group was taking the back route, I decided it would be better for us to go up the short route. I did not want to be hiking in the dark with Quinn for two and a half hours way past his bed time. We started off around 5pm.

 

Quinn and Sunny took turns leading the way up the old cable route.

Sunny was very excited and only barely tolerated moving at Quinn pace.

I kept Quinn informed of the terrain we'd be facing throughout the hike. Explaining the different legs of the journey helps keep him informed and unsurprised. Still, he did complain a litte at about the halfway mark.  It is a fairly steep climb, after all.

At one point an owl soared past us and lit on a branch. We got a good look at it before Sunny spooked it.

Quinn was negotiating terrain like a champ on the way up.

We made the summit within a little over an hour and a half. A solid 1mph uphill is a pretty darn good speed for a 5-and-a-half-year-old.

We wandered over to the back of the parking lot where the other trail comes up to wait for folks to arrive.

About a dozen folks showed up. Quinn and Sunny were very excited to meet more dogs.

We went back up to the summit and waited for the fireworks. We had a great time chatting with the other hikers and getting to know folks. The dogs had a lovely time playing with each other and Quinn. I gave Quinn a lot of sugary snacks to eat in preparation for the hike back down later.

Sunny, the whore.

Sunny & Emma. Emma is a 46er!

Uh oh.

Caught a lovely, if low resolution sunset from the back side of the mountain.

Quinn really enjoyed the fireworks. The fact that they were far enough away for the noise to not bother him was a big plus. 

Quinn started strong down the mountain, but soon the bugs assaulted us. Quinn really, really doesn't like bugs and these was the worst swarming I've ever experienced. I've hiked in the dark before, but I've never had insects attracted to my headlamp the way they did that night. I put Quinn's bug hat on, but I had to hold his hand so he could negotiate the descent without falling. The first half of the hike back down was not fun for him, I have to admit.

Once the bugs stopped bothering us, I was able to take off his hat and he asked to stop holding my hand. I told him to lead the way. This way I could shine the light ahead and he could see much better. Quinn did a great job negotiating the terrain on his own after this point. We were in really good spirits for the rest of the hike, even as late as it was.

I was really proud of him. I explained that it was perfectly reasonable to be upset at the first part of the hike and I was not upset with him at all. I promised we wouldn't do a night time hike, at least with a descent, for a little while. He said "Yeah. Maybe when I'm 10. Or 11. Or 13. Or 16." 

We finished the hike in about an hour and ten minutes.

After hunting for a service station with an open convenience store along rt 9 for several miles (finally found a Cumbies open just North of Queensbury), Quinn passed out.

I knew I was taking a risk hiking with Quinn so late. I think the snacks sustained him. It'll be some time before we hike this late again, but I think it was, in general, a good experience.

August 21: Kipp Mt.

When we do our annual camping trip, we usually hike up Stewart Mountain. This year, we decided to hit up Kipp instead. Kipp Mt. was Sunny's first summit back in October, 2021 and I remember it being lovely. It was more lovely than I remembeed. 

I did take a lot of nice pictures, but I'm not going to post any with faces in them in order to keep the kids' privacy.

The trail from the trailhead to the base of the mountain is beautiful and well-maintained. The kids and dogs enjoyed the easygoing path. The kids didn't complain about the climb up at all and the ultimate ascent along the ridge was a real treat.

The payoff along the Kipp ridge is well worth the short hike.

Quinn enjoyed Kipp so much, he asked to go back on a brisk early September morning.