After lunch, Hannah and I packed up our snowshoes and drove over to Pigeon Hill. Our first winter excursion on these trails, I don’t know what possessed us to think that snowshoeing up Pigeon Hill wouldn’t be any tougher than hiking it.
The view, regardless of the weather, is always worth the hike.
That said, my calves and hips were screaming by the time we made it to the top. We saw all kinds of animal tracks – deer, hare, fox, and possibly a bobcat.
Just below this point is where the trouble started. Hannah was a ways ahead of me and followed what she thought was the trail we agreed on – the most direct path down the hill and back to the car.
We followed the little pink ribbons – which was curious in itself because the other branches of the trail have painted markers. We felt as if we were going in circles. And then we were heading uphill again! We stopped to discuss our options. Could we have wandered onto someone else’s property and were not even on the trail? Maybe the markers were something else entirely. Do we turn back or do we continue on? We opted to continue on. Worse case, we head downhill until we run into the bay.
Although it was 32 degrees out, we were both so warm from exertion that we almost ditched out coats. Not to mention the blister developing on my heel. I was at a loss for words when we finally ran into the yellow Summit Loop Trail. Thank goodness is what I was thinking!
When we finally made it back to the trail head, I studied the map. Hannah misread the markers and we ended up on the new Ledge Woods Trail adding and extra half of a mile to our excursion. The map above is a snapshot of the trail. We expected to come down the hill via the Summit Loop Trail (the yellow area above). The light blue highlight shows the route we took a total of 1.7 miles round-trip.
We are now home, safe and sound. My breathing has returned to normal, my blisters tended to and the last Christmas cookie has my name on it. I deserve it.
Past Pigeon Hill Hikes
1 September 2013: Sunday Pigeon Hill Hike
18 April 2013: Morning Pigeon Hill Hike
12 October 2012: From the Top of Pigeon Hill
23 August 2011: Annual Mother Daughter Pigeon Hill Hike
19 June 2010: Hike to the Top of Pigeon Hill
