Hikin' With The Grandson

Just over a week ago I took my six year old grandson on a bit of hike. I had taken him once last year and he liked it enough he was ready to go again when I brought it up one day.

When the day came he had his Mutant Ninja Turtle backpack loaded up with something to eat and water to drink on the way. The hike we were doing was down at Hemlock Cliffs. It's a good place for a youngster like him to get a taste of being out on the trails. There's some decent hills on the mile and a quarter trail and you really never know what you're going to see out there. I know because the three days before I was on the trail and when I came around one of the curves I looked up to see a pair of yearling deer running right down the trail straight at me. They didn't stick around however to introduce themselves.

He did a little better on this hike than what he did the first time we did the loop together. The first time his legs began to wear out after the first mile but this time he wasn't wearing out much at all. We went to one set of cliffs and was going to eat lunch but he changed his mind and wanted to wait till we got to the main cliff. When we did get there we found these large ice masses that were leftovers from some of the large icicles that had formed there earlier in the winter. He definitely thought those were cool. There was still quite a bit of ice hanging from the rock walls but most of it had all turned into running water.

He's still got some things to learn yet but the good thing is he likes it enough to keep going. I've got to teach him how to use the hiking poles. The pair I gave him already had some good memories as they're the pair I took to Mt. Washington with me in 2004. They saw a lot of miles before that trip and a lot of miles after the trip. He did a pretty good job of keeping up with me although I must admit I did slow down so I wouldn't walk away from him. In this picture he went with a fruit drink during a break. That's more leftover ice at the top of the picture from a icicle overhead that was still there. This particular spot, when the ice is heavy, creates it's own refridgerator affect. When the ice is there it can be 50 degrees on top of the cliffs but the air at the bottom of the gorge can still be down in the 30's from the ice on the walls. You can have a jacket on down below but then you have to lose it up on top because it's so warm. Basically what you're talking about is Mother Nature's very own air conditioning using.

After a couple of hours we finally made the climb back up to the top of the valley. He actually did pretty well climbing out even though it was a bit steep. I'm looking forward for when he gets a little older so he can go with me on some of my bigger hikes. I've already said something to him about hiking in the mountains one of these days and he's ready to go now. I figure by the time he gets up around ten I can get him on the good trails. You have to start somewhere and this is a good place to do it.