Peach Mountain on the Last Day of Winter

There is no more beautiful sight than kids and dogs in the woods! We enjoyed a great little walk today in the Peach Mountain area (also known as Stinchfield Woods) with our friend Erik Larsen, two of his kiddos (Sam and Katie), and their enormous dog Spencer. Sam and Katie's mom, Christy, and brand-new baby brother James stayed back at their house, since the baby was napping and it was pretty windy and chilly.

We entered at a gate off of Stinchfield Woods Road, which was new to us (we usually park across the street from the animal clinic on North Territorial Road and walk up the clinic's driveway to the gravel pit). It was nice to explore a new entrance and a side of the woods that we don't normally see. And it was delightful to see the kids run and frolic and generally soak up that magic feeling that only comes from being away from pavement and noise and technology!

Buster was a tamer version of his usual wild self. I think he was on his best behavior since he was in the company of a dog that is more than three times his size. I've never seen him quite so demure.

What a great way to celebrate the end of winter. On my summer to-do list is to get my little monkeys out hiking at least once a week. And I mean really hiking — not just strolling down the asphalt sidewalk at Hudson Mills (though that's nice in its own way too). Maybe we'll even shoot for a different hiking destination each week... might as well dream big!

In other hiking news, plans are coming together for my next AT adventure, which is only a couple months away. I'm very excited that Cindy's coming along again this time, and we have grandiose ideas of starting and finishing Great Smoky Mountain National Park! Girl power! We are, of course, wildly excited. I've started working out in my typical maniacal fashion, concentrating especially hard on the body part that took the worst beating last time: my very mushy quadriceps. They're appalling, really. In fact, last Thursday I did a "tall box" workout (a la "The Firm") that included a lot of stepping and lunging, and it nearly crippled me. Just guess how many days it took for me to be able to walk and sit like a normal person. Not one. Not two. Not three. Yes, four. Lactic acid is a powerful thing.