A Day on Bald Mountain

We went for a 3.3 mile combo letterboxing/hiking expedition up Bald Mountain.  The first part of the trail skirted around a pond.

Eureka!  A natural bridge!

Surprisingly, we had some trouble with gorillas chasing bananas (or possibly with bananas chasing gorillas; it got a little confusing).  What can I say?  Sometimes I was running in terror, other times I was roaring after my elusive snack.  Eventually, it got a little more recursive - and giggly - as the taggee would try to immediately tag back the tagger and make her escape.  (Pro tip: This is more effective the first time, due to the element of surprise.)

Near a trail junction, we managed to track down our hearts' desire -- the letterbox -- although the beech tree landmark has largely rotted away, and sticklers for detail might quibble about whether the container is on the "right" as opposed to the "middle."

The intrepid letter-boxing hikers

Another strategy for tag: Hide quietly, and carry a big stick.

Perfectly sized for little hands.  We measured.

At the first false summit (aka M&M Stop #1), we had a lovely view of the mitten:

Personal trainer with one of his high-profile athlete clients.

The bigger bump should be Mt Monadnock.

We kept on through some forested areas, collecting tiny pine cones for wreath-making next month, and eventually reached the second false summit, with a welcome windbreak offering lovely views of Mount Monadnock.   

I walked up a bit further to the true summit, which is basically a rock in the middle of the forest.  I did not take any photos of it.

The advance guard claimed
prime positions in the windbreak.

In the final stretch, we were playing alliterative alphabet games.  Even though it was all downhill at this point, it had been a long day with a lot of sprinting, so C kept an eye out for opportunities to slide down the leaves instead of walking.  But whether walking or sliding, she would call out a letter and she and I would brainstorm all the nouns and adjectives that came to mind, stringing them together to make phrases and sentences whenever possible.  Then she'd announce the next letter...

And we'd occasionally backtrack and supply more words for a prior letter, as the spirit moved us.

Despite all this mental and physical exertion, we fell pretty far behind.  When we finally rejoined the rest, it turned out that they had moved on to a more structured alliterative memory game about items one might find on a healthy hike.  We stuck with our game.

We all made it down in one piece and headed off for a victory lunch at a local establishment.  Spinach salad, pizza carbonara, grilled cheese, hot chocolates, and a turkey melt.  Yum!

My pedometer indicated 3.47 miles total (including my solo summit expedition).