I recently hiked the Winslow Trail up Mount Kearsarge. This is a steep 1.1 mile trail, which I call the roots and rocks trail. I have done it over 30 times including 20 years in a row with my grandson who lives in the Midwest. It one of my favorites, obviously.
However, my first attempt at this trail was a failure. Jann and I drove up from Cambridge with our two young girls who were toddlers. We started the trail with one child on my back and one walking. A short ways up the trail I had two children on my back. Neither Jann nor I were in shape for hiking, and with the weight on my back, we soon decided this was not the day to summit Kearsarge.
Here are some of the photos I took along the Winslow Trail heading up to the summit of Mount Kearsarge this July.
Shortly before reaching the summit, I found some Amanita muscaria mushrooms, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita. Arguably this is one of the most iconic toadstool species. The fly agaric is one of the most recognizable and widely encountered. It is poisonous, but few people die from eating it. I did not pick any.
I returned along the Barlow Trail, named after a surgeon from Hanover with whom I played paddle tennis in Norwich many years ago.
I only took one photo on the way down because the contrast was too high in the woods.
That is Bradley Lake in Andover in the background.
It was a great hike following a few strenuous ones that you can see earlier on my Blog.