Parker Mountain

A couple of weeks after spraining my ankle, and for the first time without my husband, the kids and I headed over to Parker Mountain. Strafford's high point, and decided to check it out. We were immediately greeted by what I considered a ridiculously steep little section of crumbled rock.. not so great on the injured ankle, but I took it slow.  We made it to the summit cairn and ventured on past as I had heard there was a nice viewpoint over Bow Lake. Without really knowing how far it was, and starting to feel my ankle telling me to stop, we made it as far as the very first peek-a-boo view before heading back down. A successful lesson in learning I can do this without another adult!

 

summit cairn

As far as we made it on the trail before turning back

Attempting to show the "steepness" of the first/last 0.4 miles

Mt Blue Job

A week before my husband ran his 3rd Boston Marathon, my family and I headed back over to Blue Job for a family hike. We headed up to Little Blue Job first and it was very, very windy. We then headed up the back side of Blue Job to the fire tower, which was the first indication of what was ahead. Ice and snow.. avoidable for the most part, but we had to watch our footing. On the descent, we encountered more ice. Quite a bit of ice. We were not prepared with the appropriate gear for ice, and I was being very anxious about the kids and each step they took. About halfway down, I was holding onto the youngest and he slipped.. I went with him and so did my ankle. I hadn't felt pain like that since I broke my arm as a 10 year old. I was afraid I had broken my ankle, but after regrouping and catching my breath, I was able to hobble back down to the car. I never went to the Dr, but my own self-diagnosis was a severe sprain (swelling and bruising to boot). R.I.C.E was on order for a couple of days. 

Holding on for dear life in the wind atop Little Blue Job