Farm Field Hike

The Bluff is photogenic from anywhere you can see it.

It has been a bit too long since I last posted.  I've been just to active to sit and write about anything.  I did take some time recently to take a couple of walks outside.  I say "outside" because I have been looking for good hikes to take with my family.  They have to be close by and of easy to moderate exertion so that the kids can handle it.  This means they aren't likely wilderness.



I liked that spruce so much I photographed it twice, but I truly love this farm road.





One such exploration led me up over a farm field that I haven't visited since I was a young kid.  My brother, our friends, and I used to bike or walk up this hill after biking to "Mac's Corner Store" for some treats.  We'd hike up the hill and sit on hay bales or on the corral that was there to enjoy our treats.  My brother, his two boys, my father, my kids and I were hiking on this day.  It was a calm but gray day, with above normal temperatures, a great day to be outside. 



We left around 3:00 in the afternoon and I anticipated to be out about 1.5-2 hours.  I was hoping to be finishing up near sun down so that I could possibly get some nice light for photos.  To my surprise, the old corral was still there and my brother and I reminisced together about our childhood.  The walk seemed a bit shorter somehow, although my son likely felt it was plenty long enough.  We hiked on past the corral and continued to follow the field road to the top pasture.  At the tree line we could sit and look back over the fields we had just crossed and also look over most of Sussex Corner.

This was towards the end of the walk and provided a perfect ending, beyond the singing, which was so appropriate.

We sat and enjoyed the view as we ate a small snack and drank some water.  The pace back was leisurely and the conversation light.  My daughter rode joyfully in the backpack and sang songs for a good portion of the trip home before falling asleep.  The dogs ran wildly enjoying a bit of freedom before we had to put them back on the leashes, even a cut pad on my shepherd/husky couldn't slow her down.

It was nice to just get outside and enjoy being there.  We don't have to go far to enjoy the wilderness and we truly had a great day.

Shaylee finally succumbed to the fresh air and likely serenaded herself to sleep.