Spring is here!

Finally warm enough for a trip outside with the little bean. We have not been able to take her outside for the last eight weeks but on Sunday it was warm enough to get outside and wear Snurpy on mommy's back. We headed for somewhere familiar, close by, and not too strenuous and that brought us to the yellow-blazed Menomine Trail heading north of Seven Lakes Drive from the Silvermine Lake trailhead. Only 200 yards in, we came to a familiar stream crossing that was not fit to ford while carrying the baby (she'll be 9 months old on Tuesday) on your back so after a conservative attempt at crossing we bailed on Menomine and headed up the Nawahunta fire road past the Lewis Mine. The trail was easy to walk on but it was full of mud and puddles--difficult to pass through while remaining dry. Not long after heading deeper into the woods we came across one of our "favorites": unfreakin' leashed dogs. Not one, not two, but three of the slobbering mongrels!! This is not the first time we had to deal with this here and now that our party includes the Snurpy the last thing we need is to wrestle some pooches. The owner was a nice enough guy but the mutts were totally out of control, running back and forth by us and being the slobbering freaks that they are. The guy blew his whistle and called them back and of course all three of them ignored him because we three we way more interesting. If you want to go hiking with your dogs and keep them off the leash, you don't belong on any NYNJTC trails. We had hoped to follow the fire road up to where it meets Long Path but our pace was easy and our time short before we decided to turn back. Little Snurpy had a great time as she climbed eagerly into mommy's backpack and once we headed into the forest she gave us some good smiles. After taking in all the sights and smells and the cool pince scented and moist air, she dozed right off into a nice little slumber. This peace was broken near the parking area on our return by a group of SFR's who thought it would be a great idea to drive past the barricade onto the fire road and disrupt the quiet of the park by blasting Eurotrash club music from their luxury SUV at about 10,000 decibels. We got a nice stare down passing them both coming and going.

This first taste of family hiking left us craving more and we can't wait to head out with Snurpy again.