7th Grade!

 This one headed off to 7th grade yesterday! 😍😎😮 Wow. Time really does fly by!

The Final Few Days of Summer

Thursday started with a nice, mellow run on the powerlines and the Gone Fishing trails. It was cool but humid. Very quiet out on the trails. Made a lot of blackberry stops! 😋 (10.1 miles)

Then it was on to all.the.errands, cleaning the house, making banana bread and pasta salad, doing all.the.laundry and getting ready to head out on our final trip for the summer before school starts next Monday. We decided to mix up our annual Bowdoin reunion trip and get together at Neal and Kendra's new-ish lake house near Sunapee, NH instead of camping at Wolfe's Neck this year. I love Wolfe's Neck and it is always fun to be there, but reserving side by side sites has gotten harder as it has become a more popular destination and with Covid, having the flexibility of Neal and Kendra's as a location seemed like a wise choice. After a year's break, we were really looking forward to see everyone!

Friday morning, I headed out for a road run. Possibly it was cooler out but SO muggy. Legs felt tired. (8.0 miles)

We left around 9:30 and arrived in time for lunch. Neal and Kendra's place is really lovely, with a nice yard and fire pit, set up the slope slightly from Chalk Pond. After lunch, we walked with the dogs on the loop around the pond (1.2 miles walked), and then changed into our bathing suits and got out on the pond, Sam in the water and the rest of us on floats. It felt much cooler over there - the car had been reading 90 en route - and it was nice to relax and float around on the water for a bit. Then we headed out for ice cream before returning home to relax around the fire pit. Such a nice afternoon!

Everyone else arrived as it was getting dark and we hung around the fire chatting and catching up before Sam and I finally headed into bed around 10:00.

I woke up early on Saturday and after hearing a bit about some of the trails around the area and downloading a map to my phone, headed out with my pack for a "no plan" random run in the hopes of getting in a few hours on my feet. I ran around the pond and then headed up the old road marked as the Stony Brook trail system. The trail headed up, of course 😉, and after a mile or so connected with Baker Hill Road, which had some nice hills and a good view out over a golf course towards Mt. Sunapee.

From there, I looped around and connected back up with a trail system that took me up Sunset Hill with some hazy views looking out over Lake Sunapee before descending to the lake's shoreline via yet another trail system. The route up from the lake took me through some lovely gardens, and then I took pavement back to the house. All in all, fun meander with a great mix of roads and trails, some neat views and a fair amount of elevation! (11.0 miles)

John Hays gardens

I arrived back to find Sam, Doug and Adam out paddleboarding on the pond 😍 and then they decided to swim out to the little island and over to the dock too. Always great to have Doug around as he is up for any sort of water activity! 

We ate lunch and then took the dogs for a walk around the pond (1.3 miles walked) and spent the rest of the day outside around the fire pit, enjoying the afternoon and evening together. After a yummy outside potluck-style dinner, it started to rain so we hastened inside to stay dry and continue our conversations before bedtime. 

Bodi relaxing in the yard behind the fire pit

Some of us stayed up later than others (nope, not me! 😉) so the house was very quiet when I woke up. I had a quick breakfast and then headed out the door around 8:00. The morning dawned cool, damp and overcast. I decided to run the loop that Ryan, Nate and Michael had run yesterday, adding on a loop around the pond to loosen my legs up before starting up the hill to the Fishersfield Trail. After Saturday's rains, there were numerous red efts out in the middle of the road, and I ended up seeing a dozen of them at least throughout my run. Always love these little guys - they make me smile 💗

The Fishersfield Trail was a rough, rugged, side-hilly trail that wandered up the ridge along the pond and then out into a wide swath of wilderness. It is part of the larger Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway Trail, which winds 75 miles through this area, but it is little traveled for sure. 

As I was wandering along, I came up over a small rise to see something small and black dart down through the woods and straight up a tree along the trail! A bear cub! WOW! I stopped in alarm, hoping I wasn't in between the cub and mama, but thankfully I could hear and see her scurry uphill farther up the trail from me. Of course, I had to get a photo but then I realized I was going to have to retreat, as there was no way I was going to run past the cub and mama! After backtracking a few steps, I realized the cub had jumped down from the tree and was running quickly downhill with mama in quick pursuit. I waited until I could no longer hear or see them, and then decided to continue on along the trail. What a neat encounter, and something I definitely was not expecting! 💕🐻

Lots of mushrooms and oak galls as well as much stopping to consult the map and ensure I was staying on my intended route! I got off the Greenway and onto a dirt road which then connected me to an old dirt road up through the woods, which connected me to the Sunset Hill trail. From there, it was back up to the summit and down, with a final mile on the road back to the house. Between the humidity, fog and the drizzle that started atop Sunset Hill, I was pretty wet by the time I finished up, but happy! Always fun to explore and get on some new roads and trails. (7.4 miles)

We hung out for another couple hours, and Sam of course, enjoyed as much time with the dogs as she could 😍😍🐶🐾

It was so nice to see everyone, and the weekend was a great way to officially wrap up summer! 💗💗

Next up: 7th grade! 🎒📚

Southwest Harbor Trip

Sunday:

So, yes, we set off to Southwest Harbor on Sunday morning knowing well that Hurricane Henri was bearing down on the east coast. In looking at the weather forecast, it was unclear how much impact it would have on MDI, so we decided we would rather head up there and have to retreat than just skip it entirely. We always love our time in Southwest Harbor and it is an end of the summer tradition to get in one last camping trip up there before school starts. 

It appeared we would have a decent weather window before the rain rolled in later in the evening, so we headed into town for lunch at Eat a Pita and then over to Beech Mountain for the short hike up to the fire tower before going to set up at the campground. 

It was overcast, breezy and a bit chilly, although definitely humid, when we started out, and we were glad to find the cloud ceiling was pretty high and we still were able to get in some views along this short but sweet loop up and over the summit. Always a good one, and a nice way to stretch the legs after our drive. (1.2 miles walked)

Breezy up in the tower!

We set up camp (and the new hammock!!) and then walked down to the Sound before picking up dinner at Beal's. Yum! (0.75 miles walked)

Yum!

Shortly after we finished eating dinner, the rain started and we were forced to retreat to the vestibule to play games and (e gads! 😉) interact with each other before calling it an early night.

Sam is so thrilled 😂

Monday:

Skies had cleared by the time we woke up in the morning, even if the tropical heavy humid air was still most assuredly present. 

We decided to check out some new trails today, and really enjoyed our exploration up and around Eliot Mountain! Some neat, lesser used trails outside of the park on the edge of Thuya Gardens.

After parking on the side of Rt. 3, we headed into the woods. The air was thick but it didn't rain. Lots of interesting lichen and thick moss and so many mushrooms along the way! After the summit, we took the long way along the ridge to the Map House before meandering over to the Gardens. We stopped there to enjoy the flowers, butterflies and frogs before heading out through the door in the fence for the final portion of trail back to the car. It was great mellow morning meander! (3.8 miles walked)

Loved the moss and lichen 💗

Map House

Thuya Gardens

Headed out through the door in the fence

We headed to Seal Harbor to have a picnic lunch on the beach and stick our toes in the water (brrr, chilly!) before going into Northeast Harbor to wander down the main street. 

Then it was off to Wonderland to check out the surf. By then, it had started drizzly, and we hiked out to the ocean's edge in the mist. Not much to speak of in terms of waves, but it is always pretty out there. (1.4 miles walked)

I'd say "contemplation" but I think it is more like "I am done, let's get back to camp!" 😆

We picked up Little Notch pizza for dinner and just as we were sitting down to eat, it started to rain so we quickly moved our dinner party into the vestibule. Things escalated rather quickly as the rain poured down and the edge of the tent by Sam's mattress getting pretty soggy, so then Ryan spent a fair amount of time digging trenches and doing storm water remediation for the remainder of the evening. Aie! 😐 Definitely not ideal, but it did work and we stayed dry through the night, thankfully!

Tuesday:

All was calm when I woke up and we did not get washed away, so I put on my running clothes and headed out. Took the ninja path through the woods and up to the top of Acadia Mountain. Glorious with a thick cloud undercast and early morning light, but incredibly slick on the trails due to Monday night's rain and the heavy heavy humidity. I decided I wasn't so sure about doing the full loop or going down the backside, so I retraced my steps and then did a loop around Hall Quarry Road to get in a few extra miles. (6.2 miles)

😍😍

Once I got back, we had pancakes and bacon for breakfast and then headed back to Acadia for our hike. We arrived early enough to get a parking spot that was not along the roadside, and took the Man O War dirt road down to the Sound. A nice mellow way to start off the hike. From there, it was a slick and steep rocky scramble up the backside of Acadia. The clouds were starting to burn off and boy, did it get toasty! Apparently, we were also some of the only ones who decided to go up the rocky scramble, so we ran into a fair number of people tiptoeing their way down. Eek. Pays to know how to read the topo lines on a map!! We took it nice and easy in the heat and humidity and enjoyed the views. The summit proper was fairly busy so after a quick snack, we made our way back down to the car in time for lunch! A perfect morning hike, and we knew Sam would love the rock scramble 😎 (2.6 miles walked)

Cool lettuce lichen on the trees

Man O War Road

Up up up

Saw this on our way down! so cool! It is hydnellumpecki - fascinating!!🍄

I have no idea what these are. I thought they looked like spiky cream puffs and Sam thought they looked like puffer fish 😂

It was back to the campsite to make nachos for lunch and then we headed to the other side of the island for a hike around Great Head. It was quite warm out but the sweat was worth it - this is certainly a great bang for your buck walk with the wide open views out into the ocean. Gorgeous! (1.7 miles walked)

Cool clouds rolling over Sand Beach

Ryan headed out for a run when we got back, and after Sam and I showered, we decided to start the fire, and of course Sam had fun in the hammock 😊

It was a nice evening at camp, watching the fire, roasting marshmallows and enjoying the fact that it was not raining! Of course, it did rain for a short but intense period of time overnight, but at least we were all in the tent asleep by then!

Wednesday:

Ryan headed into town to get us breakfast at Cafe Milagro (gotta hit all the favorite food spots while we were there!!) and then after packing up camp, we headed over to Flying Mountain for a short hike before heading home. Seriously hot and humid, but another short on effort, high on reward hike, with some lovely views out over the Sound and a neat beach to visit too! A great way to wrap up our trip. (1.86 miles hiked)

Saw a loon in Valley Cove 😍

Went a short way up Valley Cove Trail to check out the steps and the view before turning around

Despite the crazy weather with all the rain and thick tropical air, we had a great trip with some really nice hikes and all our favorite Southwest Harbor food! And as always, so good to visit the island 💗