I could write up a long blow-by-blow account of our hike, but I'll let the pictures (and captions) do the talking. Saddle up! I've chosen over 60 pictures! The hike was 4.9 miles long and over 1,000 feet in elevation gain. I had taken 157 photos and I STILL felt like I barely took any! Here we go!
Since the visitor's center always seems to be closed,
they gave suggestions on where to pee on the trail.
A bit dry, but beautiful. I love moss-covered rocks.
A very dark photo of a scarlet tanager.
It was backlit - I apologize!
A lovely quiet spot with a little cascade and some hefty rocks.
Liam loved it. He wanted to climb all over the rocks!
When it gets really warm, he loves to put his feet in the water.
Placid.
Climbing the rocks and showing off perhaps?
Gnarly wave, dude!
The scarlet tanager kept following us.
Again, I apologize for a crappy photo!
Cute little bugger
We were looking for things to post and show off.
Liam wanted me to photograph this leaf.
Nice leaf, huh?
Beautiful little cascades.
The stream was just lovely.
We walked beside it for a while, doing a slow climb upwards.
Here is a section of our climb.
It got pretty rocky!
But Liam does best on rocky terrain.
A pretty dragonfly that moved quickly so I didn't get very clear photos.
Here it is again!
Playing games with us like the tanager did?
A weird log that appeared to be painted.
But why?
It got a bit swampy so the bugs were horrible around here!
We slathered ourselves in bug spray for a second time.
Odd....
A huge rock to ooh and aah over.
We told Liam there was a bigger rock coming
and he kept asking, "When? When?"
Here we go!
Some big rocks just for you, Liam!
He sat down and was about to drink some juice and eat a snack....
Enjoying the scenery....
Until he saw a wasp nest!
Liam FREAKS over flying stinging things
so this was a no-go! He couldn't get out of there fast enough!
It was pretty though.
Do you see a face in the rock?
I wanted to stay and take more pics.
A little cascade.
On our way towards Diamond Mountain
(we were just at the base of it so far),
we saw this lovely doe.
Blowing raspberries at us!
A cool ruin.
Liam wasn't that into it for some reason.
Well I was!
Little stone piles.
The climb up Diamond.
I ended up with bruises on my legs.
Such is the hiking life!
No big deal for Liam of course!
It got grassy at the top.
We only saw one person on Diamond,
but there were many people at the bottom on their way to the lake.
The view down to the lake.
A little closer up.
My 30x zoom isn't too bad!
It was pretty at the top.
I know I overuse the word "pretty," but it really was!
I love those ridges!
King of the Mountain!
Hear him roar!
7 Hills Trail
Coyote scat?
Very dried-up, whatever it was.
A difficult descent with lots of loose rocks.
But he did it!
A sort of a view.
Love those pines at the top!
They make you feel fairly high up!
More of a view.
Crazy little child!
Oh, how I love him though!
A much better view.
Kind of took my breath away.
I wish photos captured it properly.
Views are ALWAYS better in person!
The trail actually went off the side.
The first time we did it, I freaked!
But we found an easier way around.
Superb.
Looking cool.
Very cool.
We couldn't have climbed any of these mountains
without these trekking poles!
Wild blueberries!
We didn't pick any that time,
but we ate a lot on our next hike at Schunemunk!
I've requested a Northeast foraging book from the library.
I'll review it once it comes in!
The really tricky descent
requiring some butt-sliding action.
Liam getting help from Jon.
After him, it was my turn!
Of course I didn't get pics of that.
It doesn't look that impressive in pics, but I promise it was!
Looking up at what we just slid down.
Okay, it looks SOMEWHAT impressive, doesn't it?
WILD CHILD!
Telling me "shush" for some reason!
It was around this time that he got tuckered out and dizzy.
It took a lot for him to make it the rest of the way back.
Sorry, buddy, but at 52 pounds, you're too heavy to carry!
I told him I'd race him to the restrooms and so he picked up the pace.
And he won!
Had to snag a couple pics on the way back.
I just couldn't help myself!
And he couldn't help himself either!
He had to climb just a bit more!
And that's it! We had SO much fun! We'll definitely go back and next time we'll hike to the lake and find some cool ruins that we spotted on Google Earth!
