A walk in the woods

I went for a hike yesterday. Whew- I am out of shape! But I obviously want to get in shape for ski season, so I can at least attempt to ski with my fellow instructors (when there's no one signed up for lessons).

Anyways, I headed to Branbury State Park where, across the street, there are lots of trails. I had hear the trail to Rattlesnake Cliffs was one I had to do, and just beyond that was the summit of Mount Moosalamoo. I started through our campground, where there's a "nature trail" that goes up and over a bunch of cliffs and rocks (not as crazy as it sounds) and meets up with the Falls of Lana trail (the other side of Sucker Brook is the Silver Lake Trail). Here's a link to the maps- too many to cut and paste here- http://www.moosalamoo.org/Hiking.asp

There are 2 ways to Rattlesnake Cliffs (and no, there isn't any rattlesnakes). There's the Aunt Jenny Trail (harder I've been told) and the Cliffs trail. I took the latter. There were many trees down (many meaning 5-6) throughout the hike and it felt more like a steeplechase than a hike at times. I met up with a group of people who, angered me. Angered isn't the right word- perturbed maybe? Anyways, I'm hiking up and they have stopped in a not-so-good place~ in the middle of the trail and didn't even bother to move over. So I said "Excuse me" and gently pushed through. I had to stop a bit further up and they passed me again, talking the whole time. Seriously, didn't they get the memo that I wanted peace and quiet with God and nature?? apparently not. hmmph. I passed them again and hiked as fast as I could to get away from the din of their voices. I had a feeling they would be going on the overlook trail, so I kept going to the Moosalamoo summit (apparently another mile beyond). I never did see the summit because I was so hungry and tired I had to stop. I'm sure I wasn't far, but the trail started to go down and I didn't want to go up again. I found an overlook to the east- and here's what it looked like:

So I ate my snack and headed to the overlook. Beautiful. Here's what the overlook looked like-

my initial view from the top- the water is Lake Dunmore

Beautiful Addison County

Along my hike I spotted these things- they look like something out of a Doctor Seuss book:

And then I hiked back down to my car. I was thinking of going the easier but longer route back to my car, but I said naah... I'll go back the way I came- over cliffs and rocks. Well, I didn't go back the way I came because the trail wasn't marked well! At least it made a loop back into our campground and I knew where I was. 4 1/2 hours total was my hike. Whew. I've got blisters on my heels (my socks weren't thick enough) and my legs are toned. I need to do that more- say, once a week- before ski season. Maybe this will be the year I learn to to moguls! Um.. no.

My walk in the woods
 (Bill Bryson's book by the same name is pretty good.. just saying...)