Mt. Philo

Mt. Philo isn't an actual Mountain per say, it's more of a modest hill with muddy trails and a steep one land road for those who wish to see the view from the top but would prefer to do so via car power instead of body power. We decided that this would be a perfect hike for our pint sized companions, so we packed a cooler, loaded up the Camry and set our sites for this adventure.

Now considering that our summer has been a wet and cold one we should have been prepared for slippery, muddy trails and lots & LOTS of bugs, but because the day was so full of blue skies, warm breezes and sunshine this notion completely slipped our minds...that is until we started our trek up the hillside. The boys made it 1/2 of the way up the trail systems but with lots of complaints and breaks for rest. Mike and I were eager to just go, mostly to avoid being an all you can eat buffet for the black flies, and did our very best to encourage the boys to not stop and keep their minds set for the top. By the time the trail crossed the one-lane road we found ourselves caving and decided to walk up the paved road in the sunshine instead of keeping to the woods.



The walking was much easier on the pavement and instead of constantly swatting at black flies we only had to step off to the shoulder every now and then to avoid a car that would be passing by.

Liam found a sudden burst of energy with the sunshine and pavement, and Owen found that hiking was hard work no matter what was under your feet. :)




Both boys did make it to the top and were very proud of themselves for sticking through it. The rocky peak allowed us to see vast miles of the Champlain Valley, Lake Champlain, all the way to the Adirondacks. We stayed and rested for about a half an hour before embarking on our journey back down to where we parked our car.


Thankfully going down is a lot easier then going up.