Al has been charged with working on developing a trail from Old Stoddard Road and the Sawmill Trail to Kulish Ledges and he takes this responsibility seriously. He has spent countless hours exploring the land between the Ledges and the Sawmill Trail, discovering points of interest and looking for possible routes.
Today, Rick Church, Tom Murray and I joined Al to see if we could determine a good route. The problem is that there are so many points of interest and so many good routes that it is hard to choose. Al took us to a number of beautiful vistas, 2 cellar holes with which Rick was not familiar, which made Rick very happy, through the beautiful spruce woods and along the heights of scree slopes and cliffs.
It was a long day! I had thought that we would just be out for three hours, but the hike lasted 6 hours. It was lovely, and it was nice to go back to places which are becoming favorites of mine, but I was not prepared for the length of the hike and hadn't brought enough food. The terrain was also very challenging, up and down steep slopes and through thick woods. Hurricane Sandy had also caused some damage and we discovered many newly downed trees and branches, which added to our challenge.
It is a beautiful area, with many natural and man-made features. It is so hard to decide on a route, but it appears that we will have to make a choice, based on the best points of interest, ease of terrain and length of the trail. It won't necessarily cover everything that we would like people to see, but it will be a start.
In the meantime, I came home today weary and sore, with a few new bumps and bruises, and I still needed to go grocery shopping. Thankfully, Duane offered to take me out to dinner and we shopped together. Now it's time to take my aching body to bed.
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