Back to the mountains

The days of being able to jump in the car and drive 35 minutes to get to the bottom of Hunger Mountain in Waterbury are fast drawing to a close. Since I got off to such a late start, I decided to do the harder but shorter hike that is on the west side of the mountain (i.e., more daylight) rather than the east side that has all the slabs. I realise that my second posting in this blog was done on the fall solstice in 2006 about my hike up Hunger Mountain so it was fitting to go up there once again. The photos aren't too good because I was shooting straight into the sun to the west and it was overall hazy. But here they are for memory's sake.


The little red arrow over the bump to the left probably won't show because the photo resolution is too low but that is what I went up. Note the bullet-looking hole in the windshield — that is from a rock that hit my car the day after we smacked into the moose in May. My inspection sticker expires next month so I will have to get it fixed finally.


An hour and 40 minutes later (about normal for me), I arrive up top and face due south. If it had been clearer, you'd be able to see Killington-Pico where we hiked three weeks ago. Instead, you get a general view south, which is where I will be moving.


I have far better photos of Camels Hump from up top here but this is what I saw today.


And this is what others saw, eek, a scowly, squinty Caminante.


Down on the road heading back to the highway, I pulled over to catch the beginnings of a sunset (with mares' tails).


My reward for hiking up Hunger Mountain beyond the views? A wonderful home-made salsa with a huge heirloom yellow tomato and Roma tomato from my garden along with hot peppers from the huerto, too.