2nd Annual Hike with Shawnee!

Just a little while ago, we were reminiscing with @ShawneeShep about the great hike we took together last September. She and her mom drove all the way up from New Jersey to hike in southern Vermont with us, and it was such a great day! We decided to do it again this year.

For this year's adventure, Shawnee and her mom found a great hike in Pisgah State Park in New Hampshire. The days leading up to our trip it was pouring rain, but luckily the skies cleared in time, and we had a perfect day for hiking!

We drove down from Burlington and they drove up from New Jersey and we met at the park. Once the dogs had gotten a chance to greet each other and were properly outfitted in their don't-hunt-me orange, we were on our way!

Since there had been so much rain, I was ready for the trails to be a muddy mess, but overall it was pretty dry! We had to make our way across several streams that I'm guessing usually would have been quite small, and there were some great big puddles for the dogs to play in. (Roger made it his mission to get soaking wet in each one of them.)

Shawnee led the way for the whole 10 miles, keeping us moving at a good pace. The hike was pretty challenging for Roger and me, and as soon as we reached the summit of Pisgah Mt, Roger wasted no time hunkering down for a nap!

Once we started the hike back down, I kind of wish I had followed Roger's example...never underestimate the restorative power of a nap.

Shawnee brought her boy along this year! At first Roger wasn't quite sure about him, but by the end they were good buddies.

The views were fantastic, and it was so peaceful at the top. We only passed a few other groups of hikers all day. We had hoped to catch the foliage at a good time, but it was still mostly green leaves everywhere with only random bursts of color. It could have been more dramatic, but of course it was very pretty anyway--and that means the trails were less crowded.

Daniela got so many great pictures (like this one below and the first one in the post), and you can see more of them in Shawnee's blog post about our pawsome day together!





Thank you, Shawnee, Daniela, and the Boy, for making the trip to New Hampshire to hike with us! We can hardly wait until our 3rd annual hike next year--we should be just about rested enough by then to do it all over again!