Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Blueberry Mountain Hike

Sam did such a great job hiking up Pleasant Mountain that we thought we'd get out again on Sunday for day hike. With Ryan tapering and me still building back from after Laurel, and nothing on our schedule for the day, I did some research and we decided on Blueberry Mountain over in Evans Notch. The description included ledges, blueberries and a natural pool near the end of the hike to enjoy. Sounded perfect!

The morning, however, got off to an inauspicious start with a detour enroute, which turned into us thinking we could take another route, which turned into Google sending us off into neverneverland and taking us on the most inefficient route ever to Evans Notch. And to top it all off, Sam ended up getting car sick about 10 minutes from the trailhead. All. over. the. car. Although amazingly, she didn't get any of it on her own self. Still, ewwww!!! 😁😖😷😑 And so stinky. Ryan hates the smell of vomit and was simply horrified and convinced we would have to sell the car.

We pulled over and did the best we could cleaning things up with wipes, hand sanitizer and tissues 😂😜 then backtracked to the Stow Country Store in the hopes of finding some better cleaning products and assessing the situation. They didn't have any cleaning supplies for sale but the very nice woman behind the counter lent me some of her own supplies and a few rags to clean things up a bit more. While I did that, Sam and Ryan sat and she had some gatorade and something to eat and felt much better. After sitting for a while, she was up for continuing with our plans to hike, with the caveat that we turn around if she started feeling badly again.

And so, after much ado, we were off again. And after a not so good start to the day, it really turned out to be a great hike!

We took the White Cairn Trail up, which begins about a 1/4 mile in off someone's private road and winds steeply up through the hardwoods. It was fairly cool out but very humid so we took our time and stopped a lot for Sam to drink Gatorade. After a mile or so, the trail climbed up through some huge erratics on steep stone steps and we hit the edge of the Caribou Speckled Mountain Wilderness. Shortly after, we began to ascend up along the edge of some rocky ledges with beautiful views out into Evans Notch and lots of blueberries to pick in and amongst the rock slabs and pine trees.








We stopped for a snack, admired the view, and then meandered our way along the trail, stopping to pick blueberries as we went.











We did an additional loop out to the lookout atop Blueberry Mountain, which was well worth it! So so many blueberries!











After coming back off the lookout loop, we took the Stone House trail down to Rattlesnake Pool through a hardwood forest. Sam was tired and it was a slow go, but we knew she'd be excited about the pool and she certainly was! It was a gorgeous spot. A super deep turquoise water natural pool with small brook trout swimming in it fed by a moss-covered waterfall. When we arrived, there were a handful of people there, but by the time we left, there must have been 30 people there. Definitely a popular spot!

Sam loves the water and was brave enough to jump in. Three time 😃 Of course, the water was freezing and we didn't carry a change of clothes with us so she had to hike the 3/4 mile out soaking wet, but I think she'd say it was worth it! A great way to end the hike! (5.0 miles hiked) 








We stopped back by the Stow Country Store on the way back home for ice cream. Perfect! 🍦 And the way home was thankfully much less eventful! 😂😀

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