Erin had mentioned a while ago that on their last visit to Great Bear, she and Alden had ventured along the river beyond our normal turnaround point, coming back a different way, via the Root Hill Trail instead of Great Bear Road. This is not significantly longer but adds great interest, and avoids a big climb at the end of the hike, which is advantageous when hiking with young kids. Frankie and I were immediately intrigued, and excited to join in another time. Today proved a perfect opportunity! We hadn't made advance plans and had a lazy morning, but it looked so nice outside, I started to get itchy. Alden has stopped napping, which makes it easier to wing it with haphazard adventures, so Erin and I texted back and forth a bit and decided to go for it. Neither of us had packable lunch supplies, so we met at Friendly's for a bit of lunch first. The boys were thrilled, of course. Then... off to the woods!!
