MindSpinner

On Thursday, my daughter and I hiked to the old Forest Service tower atop the mountain that rises near my mother’s home. I remember the days when the tower was manned by a ranger who kept an eye out for forest fires. My uncle drove my cousins and me up to see it in a jeep when we were young, and I’ve hiked up now and then in years since. On a clear day, the view extends for miles and miles. Thursday was not a clear day, but the walk was still worthwhile.

The first thing to do was hop across the barrier that’s been in place for years now. At first, the road rises slowly, and it is much grassier than it used to be.

Much of the way up is graced, in July, by wild Black-Eyed Susans, blackberries mostly not yet ripe, and Sweet William.

We flushed at least eight wild turkeys.

The path grew steeper and rockier until it resembled not so much a road as a dry streambed full of boulders. And finally, when we getting worn out, we reached our destination.

The tower’s closed now; nobody has to stay up there to watch for fires anymore, but the view remains worth the climb.

On the way down, we picked a bowl of wild blackberries to take to my mother, who has climbed this mountain many, many times but cannot do so any more, and we picked up a small flat rock to add to the stone path through the garden back at home.

Next time, we’ll take a different trail just a few hundred yards up the road.