Before I had kids, I hiked up Suce Creek about once a week. It’s just 20 minutes from our house, I seldom see anyone there, a nice hill at the end gets my heart rate up and the carcasses are usually close enough to the trail that I can find Rigby and drag him out. What more could a woman want?
I don’t get there as much as I used to–midweek hikes are a thing of the past–but we still hit the Suce Creek Trail from time to time. I hiked very slowly through the snow the day before Anders was born and it was one of the first trails I carried his newborn-self on.
These days, Anders is hiking like a boy who was almost born on a trail. Finn walks a bit, with much “encouragement,” then enjoys riding on my back and telling me he thinks we should go home. Here’s our conversation:
Finn: I don’t want to hike.
Mel: You aren’t hiking. I’m carrying you, so you can just enjoy the view.
F: I don’t want you and Anders to hike.
M: Well, this is what we are doing today. When we get home, you can pick what we do.
F: I am hungry some more. I need a snack break.
Anders wasn’t that into hiking until last November when something suddenly snapped clicked in his brain. I’m hoping the same thing happens to Finn when he’s 3.5 years old.
Suce Creek was roaring. In my six years of regular visits, I’ve never seen so much water there. Part of the trail was washed out, forcing us to bushwhack through young woods. Then the second bridge was gone, so I had to shuttle the boys across one at a time. It was crazy cold and the crossing was not helped by the loving shoves of a certain black lab.
When we regained the trail upstream from our crossing, we found it underwater. Anders and I hiked through the stream for awhile until it finally left the trail. We were glad to be hiking in water shoes. It was a pretty fun adventure, and though we didn’t make the six miles Anders was hoping for, we did have a lot of fun.
It poured rain on the way back, but we hardly noticed since we were already wet from the knees down. We’re tough like that.
Oh yes, there are photos from other Suce Creek trips:
Memorial Day 2009: Anders had long hair and we made it to the ridge we were hoping for this time.
A trail description and directions in case you want to go.