Mt. Willard 11/25/07 with the kids;or patience rewarded.

[Jason Berard]

I went on a hike up Mt. Willard today with my two youngest (5 yr. old twins) and my dad and my friend Greg. It was pretty icy, and between constant questions at the beginning of " how much further,Dad?" and " Can you fix my mittens"....or " will you hold my poles, I don't want to." I wasn't sure how far we'd go today, but I had decided at the beginning that we'd go as far as they wanted. Well, after the first 30 minutes, they got into it, and although the progress was slow, we were headed in the right direction. I'm really proud of these guys today. That was not an easy hike for little legs with no traction aids. They did a great job, and we were rewarded at the top ( we made it!) with a couple VERY humorous red squirrels acting like a bickering married couple, and Grey Jays, which they said were "very friendly". It was a good day! Especially cool was that the were 3 generations of Berard's on this hike!

slideshow here

 

[HikerAmiga]

Good job!!

Now how was the initial water crossing? Just yesterday, my 12 year old niece and I got stuck here at the crossing. The water was flowing high and the rocks that were above water, were icy. Did you find solid ice to walk across on?

We weren't sure how waterproof her boots were so we turned around when we couldn't find a fool proof way to get across.

Was disappointing... continued instead on the Avalon Trail only to again get stuck on a high water crossing shortly into that trail...

Wound up at the Highland Center and did the around the lake trail without a hitch...

 

[Jason Berard]

Thanks! The water crossing was somewhat tough, but fully frozen, at least on top. We crossed to the left (downstream), using some logs more than the ice.
The first couple pics in the slideshow are of that crossing.

 

[TDawg]

Well done Jason, your children will thank you later in life for taking them hiking/fishing/introducing them to the outdoors, etc, etc....

I don't know, Grey Jays could be the coolest thing ever to a 5 year old, but I'm just guessing here....

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Nice photos. Cute kids. Must get it from their mother... [well, that's what everyone says about my kids anyway]

Tim

 

[WSC]

Jason,
looks like it was a great time, next year maybe Theo and I can join you.
Thanks for stopping by after!
WSC

 

[kmac]

A picture is worth a thousand words from the looks of them, I'd say you all look like you had a "memory maker" of a day : )
thanks for sharing.
kmac

 

[Jason Berard]

Jason,
looks like it was a great time, next year maybe Theo and I can join you.
Thanks for stopping by after!
WSC

looking forward to it, WSC! Theo has grow a lot since I saw him last!