Day 4.353: Bennett Hill Revisited

We first visited Bennett Hill Preserve about a year and a half ago on Day 3.188. Last spring I went back for a brief visit with Exile #3 on Day 4.090.  This morning we took the opportunity of a dry, sunny and snow-free winter's day to attempt the hike again.

I say attempt because this is quite challenging for us - it's a nearly three mile round-trip the way we did it (taking the short route at the summit and looping down the red trail having ascended the green):

it's about at the limit with the kids the ages they are of what we want to attempt as a pre-lunch outing.

Here are some of the wintery things we saw, frozen streams, hardy fungi, cows in brown fields eating feed, a sink-hole (I suppose) and, for good measure, a picture of Exile #3 looking curiously at an apparently chainsawed-then-deserted stump:

and I know people say that icing sugar looks like snow, but I'd never seen snow looking so much like icing sugar:

Here are the kid enjoying the walk through the varied landscapes, including passing through the eye of the tree, some sunshine at the summit and the steep bit of the red trail:

OK - yes - E5N1 was not really enjoying it at that point, but he perked up when we found the bath tub, when we got to the top and he will probably smile when he sees this picture of Exile #2.

He was also quite happy to be pretending to be my new hat.

Pictures are here.

We came home to have hot chocolate, light a fire, play some games and read some books and generally feel good about the world.