Another weekend arrived, again presenting the challenge of finding a trail that could give us some distance without encountering pesky late-season snow. Who knew we had that opportunity almost literally in our backyard? McDonald Mountain is only about 15 minutes away, and we'd never known there was an actual hiking trail so close that offered good distance, too.
TBGuide shirking his duty.
The web description had us thinking the whole trek would be on forest service roads, but the trail began with some smallish roller-coaster bumps that were very trail-like. The web also described this as a lot of uphill work, and that was certainly the case.
Words of encouragement along the way.
The day was overcast, but not too chilly, and we were certain that the clouds would burn off by the time we reached the top.
Some pretty flowers to brighten the gray.
As promised, the trail became old service roads after about a mile.
The remains of an old rock quarry. Obvisously, they forgot a few.
At 4.8 miles, we reached the clearing where the radio tower stands. I didn't take a picture of it because it's your average unappealing metal radio tower.
Not only did the clouds not burn off as predicted, but it was about 20 degrees colder on top than where we started, which put it at about 40. Brrr!
Some vistas were not terrible.
TBG experimented with his new camera.
While it wasn't the most scenic or weather-perfect hike, we were finally able to up our mileage.
And the sun was out by the time we got home.
