4th of July Family Hike!

For our Celebration of this wonderful Nation

we took the afternoon to hike in the Adirondack Park.

We choose Hadley Mountain, because it had two GeoCaches

and it was near the Town of Day, where my friend Karie told us

there was a fun picnic area on Great Sacandaga Lake.

I was so prepared - We had lots of food, extra clothes and shoes,

swimsuits, bikes, bug spray, sunblock!

But, this is up really happened! I was sure we were going to be on the nightly news for this adventure! I had the girls take stuff out to the car for me as I finished packing the cooler.

I was so pleased with their helpfulness. Mark was in the shower so I packed the bikes on the bike rack, I'm just like super woman! We went to the sporting goods store for some necessities, including a large bag of Reeces Pieces, a Hershey Bar, and Twizzlers.

As we got the trail head we thought we would eat first, then hike - smart choice. Then it hit me - I forgot a knife to spread the peanut butter for Lydia's favorite meal. But being the creative girl that I am I decided to use wheat thin crackers to spread. Then it hit me again. I didn't put the cooler in the car, remember how pleased I was with the girls helping? So, I turned to them: "Did you put the cooler in the back?" Ridiculous question - I have small girls and I don't think they could lift a full cooler. Then I asked Mark. He held his annoyance very well. I began to laugh - my favorite defense against anger. We decided to hike to the first GeoCache anyway - it was only 1/4 mile up. We were energized by the Reeces and Twizzlers and we had a water bottle too. As you go through the pictures I'll tell you the rest.

In the beginning children are anxious for the new adventure - the treasure hunt is exciting.

Mark & I love hiking and USE to go all the time, sans children. This partly explains the lack of judgement - really there is no excuse for what we did to them!

The first Cache! Of all the three pages of hikers logged in for the trail that day we were the only ones to log in on the cache! WE RULE!

Moment of decision - Do we go back? Do we go on? Well, I don't know if it was really a moment or more like a passing thought as we continued on the trail up to the fire tower.

Look at Lydia, she's up for a two mile hike up the rocks to a cold, rainy, windy summit!

No, this is not the top yet. I think my children were having way too much fun climbing on top of every big rock that was near the path and saying "Take my picture" I took about 80 pictures, I love digital!

When Megan expressed the thoughts of all "I'm hungry" She was told by her Father "Don't complain, your Mother almost didn't marry me because I complained" Side note - it's true-ish I took him roller blading while we were engaged and it was not pretty! I decided to proceed with the marriage anyway with the understanding we do not engage in sports that involved something attached to Mark's feet.

"Look at me!" Camille has the Eagle Eye of the family.

She found and captured this tiny frog!

Megan is has developed more of her musical side.

Here is the "Rock Star" wild side of her - no harps on the hike.

Lydia is in a "rap" pose I think.

Water - yes, I was prepared for that!

Well, for the beach we never went to anyway!

The Crew about to go under the "log bridge."

The highlight of the entire hike was Lydia - she was chattering, singing, laughing, & playing the entire trip and she walked almost ALL of the 4 mile trip. We had people telling us it was a strenuous hike and it was rocky, steep at times and long for three year old legs. At one point she was hiking with Mark ahead of the rest of us. Mark said something like "We are ahead" Her reply was to look back at he rest of us, wave her hand at us and say: "You can all stay here and live out your lives!" She was amazing and had us laughing the entire time! She is a gem and I will keep her forever!

Camille found this bird's nest complete with baby birds right in the middle of the trail!

The mother bird was "yelling" at us to leave from a near by tree.

Camille found this tiny snake. Mark picked up the snake. Jennie ran down the mountain screaming. Megan, Lydia, Camille, and Mark all laughed. Then Jennie took a picture - still full of fear mind you!

THE TOP!

Look close & you can see Mark near the top. The top was VERY Windy, as Mark climbed the tower the rest of us crouched behind a bush for protection from the wind and rain. Near the top was the most difficult part of the trip. It was cold, & it was drizzling rain, There was one last very steep and rocky part - after you were tricked into thinking you were already at the top but NO - you had to walk along the crest in the wind and rain to reach the tower!

The view was nice! - This was on the way back and the clouds had cleared up, still a bit of wind but no rain.

Megan found this newt on the way back.

And she found this (below), thinking it was a cocoon,

I think it was a spider egg sack.

Any other guesses?

Camille found a caterpillar.

Megan found a flower on the ground - "it was not destroying nature to pick it up

because it was already picked". She's a nature girl.

So, the 4 mile hike took us about 3 hours. Finding food afterwards took another

hour. Obeying the commandment "Thou Shalt not Covet" was questionable as we drove pass several vacation homes on Sacandoga! Seeing how amazing my kids are to hike, with out the benefit of proper nutritional preparedness, neglect of bug spray (it was in the car, I forgot to use it!) questionable weather. And all the while the complaints were minimal - they aren't perfect you know, we leave that to the Heatons! Mark & I were very pleased with them and while they may not be eager to hike again next week we will definitely go again this summer!

And Thank goodness we avoided the headline news - the lead was running in my head as we hike along the crest of the mountain.

"Family of Five recused after being unprepared for day of hiking"

If you read this to the end I applaud you -It's really a long post!