Hike Club

This Saturday

We will be hiking this Saturday, July 22nd. If you are interested let Pat or I know and we will update you with the details.

Planning

It seems like we have plans for every weekend this summer already, but we definitely need to fit in some hiking time. Pat and I will be out of New England for the first weekend in July and we have a wedding to attend the second weekend.

Hopefully we will do some hiking the weekends of July 15th, 22nd, and 29th. August is really busy for us too, so I am going to have to wait until that is a little closer before I can set those dates.

Kim and Anne will be on vacation the weekends of July 15th and 22nd, so we may try to camp somewhere up North and do some mountains. If you are interested in sharing a campsite with us, let us know soon so we can make some reservations.

Hopefully the rest of the summer won't be as rainy as the beginning!

Monadnock

This holiday Monday Hike Club headed back to Monadnock, one of our favorite mountains. It was a beautiful hike. Both parking lots were nearly full, yet we didn't have too much congestion on the trail. At the top there were about twenty groups of two to six people each.

We saw some pretty flowers, but the blueberries were still white. Despite the haziness we could see pretty far, scenic forest and other peaks. We also saw a white-striped sparrow (which Anne identified) very close up. It was singing for us and it was a very Mary Poppins moment when we stopped and watched him, just about a yard from us. I felt like if I stuck out my finger he might just hop on and continue singing.

Fort Nature Refuge

Last Sunday Hike Club headed to Fort Nature Refuge. It was a very serene place. The trail was very well marked and well cleared. It was mostly flat, but about two-thirds of the way through there was a little bit of an incline, but definitely not strenuous.

Unfortunately they don't allow dogs or jogging, which was too bad because it seemed like a perfect trail for both. Our group Sunday consisted of Kim, Anne, Chris, Pat, and I.

Rainy Day Surprise

So apparently the whole Purgatory hiking plan was a sham from the start. It was a cover for a surprise birthday party that was thrown for me! We ended up at Pat's parent's house because of all the rain. It was a lot of fun and I was totally surprised.

I have been formulating a hiking plan for this spring and summer. When I was at my mom's house a few weekends ago we were looking through old photos when we came upon some that I found particularly interesting.

That little head peaking out from my mom's backpack is me at two months old on top of Mount Monadnock.

And there I am in a front pack at three months old on top of Mount Chicarua.

So I guess you can see where I get my love of hiking! This summer I would like to revisit those two mountains, as well as Watatic from last summer, and many others. We will also plan out some flat stuff. I am hoping to hike nearly every weekend, weather permitting. Hope you will join us!

Purgatory Chasm

Hike Club is headed to Purgatory Chasm in Sutton, MA this Saturday. If you are interested in coming with us, comment here or email me and I will give you the details.

Blackstone Valley Bikeway

Today we went to check out the Blackstone Valley Bikeway from the 295 Visitor's Center.

Scott, Pat, and I met up with Kim and Anne and headed up to the new Visitor's Center that has just recently been completed. The inside is very nice and clean. The floor was a stone map of the area. It has a Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbins, staffed information booth, and clean restrooms (at least so far.)

Kim and Anne brought Scout and Casey, who were especially excited about the hike and very well- behaved. After checking out the visitor's center, we all headed down a wide sand path behind the building which met up with the paved bikeway.

We followed the bikeway along the Blackstone River and checked out a waterfall, friendly geese, an unusual large bird, and lots of people, dogs, and bikes. We were lucky with the weather, although it was downright hot in some places where we were out in the sun and then cold and breezy when we were in the woods.