This year, Jay decided to do it as a fun costumed hike. There were lots of kids there. My son, Quinn, came along dressed as Bluey. Sunny was very over-excited at the trailhead with all the kids and dogs running about. The (huge) lot was right by the road, so with all the distractions, there was no way I could fulfill his desire to be unleashed.
Quinn is still young with little legs and the group was eager to move, so for the first half of the trail, Quinn's Uncle Brandon let him ride his shoulders whils Sunny pulled me along. The foliage was peak for a few trees but was mainly past peak. Still, it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day.
Quinn and the other kids had an awesome time climbing and sliding on the rocks.
Sunny was pulling hard the entire way; he was very excited.
The trail is extremely well-maintained with lots of stairs, boardwalks, and restored sections. Still, there were lots of muddy spots, especially if you stay on-trail to avoid erosion. This is fine, though, as it is the Adirondacks after all.
The terrain was dominated by deciduous trees gradually up the side of the mountain to the ridgeline where conifers start taking over. Then it follows the ridgeline for a while before ascending once again to the top. Once we cleared the mud, we let Quinn onto his feet so he could finish the ascent on his own, hiking across the ridgeline and up to the summit.
The summit features a fire tower which has absolutely seen better days. The rickety nature of the structure did not deter Quinn much to the chagrin of Uncle Brandon.
There are lovely views to be had from the fire tower despite the late season.
Selfie with my boy on the fire tower.
The group socialized for some time at the rocky summit with kids playing on the rocks and exploring the vicinity. There was limited service at the top of the tower to provide status updates to various partners at home.
Quinn hiked nearly the entire way back down the trail.
We had a few pit stops to collect mud and ticks.
Quinn found a stick; and Waldo.
Jay brought donuts and snacks which we enjoyed at the end. We chatted for a bit while the kids and dogs played. Quinn amused himself by letting the dogs chase him with his donut.
Having missed his nap and hiked several miles on his own, Quinn was absolutely done.
We'd arrived at 10 or so and started hiking at 11, then were leaving the lot by 3:30, meaning this hike is just about perfect for a group with kids to really just get out and enjoy nature for a few hours without worrying too much about daylight. This might also be a good hike to try out snowshoeing in the winter since there's plenty of trees to block the wind and it is short. This trail is also great because it has the huge parking lot for gathering several groups of people as long as they follow group guidelines.
We'll probably do some light hiking in local areas until winter comes and then we'll try to get out and do some snowshoeing.
