Ribbony way

My rambling adventures with Maya continued over the weekend when I found an obscure mountain biking trail on the backside of the mountain. It was a wonderfully ribbony switchback and eventually connected with the main trail to the top. As we were ascending about 4:30 p.m. on Saturday it began to snow, a granular snow propelled by a hard wind coming across the reservoir. I was happy to have dressed warmly with gloves and was confident the trail was going to hit the main one—there wasn't really any other option—or I'd have been worried about getting caught in a storm in the woods. The reality is that I know what roads border the area and I could easily find my way out, though if it were dark the walk could be treacherous. We ended up hiking 4.5 miles and coming out just after sunset. We've had such little snow this year that it was great to be out in it and Maya seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself, following the trail like she'd been there plenty of times before.

The ribbony switchback trail on the north side of the mountain, taken just as the trail began to ascend. From high up the curve of the trails isn't so clearly discernible as it climbs somewhat sharply. Shortly after the photo was take it started to snow.

Maya with her 'trench coat' at the wilderness the morning after a light snowfall.
That's really the first time she's worn it outside and it is already a bit tight on her.

The day before at the wilderness we ran into Kay and her Lab named Maggie, one of Maya's first friends from our outings. Kay first told me about the wilderness and I repaid her by tipping her off to the mountain. On Friday she told me she and her family had been away for three weeks and boarded Maggie at a place upstate with acres fenced in for the dogs to run, and for only $30 to $35 a day. We're planning to be in Peru this summer for maybe up to three weeks and this may be just what we were looking for, as I've been hesitant to commit because I just didn't know what to do with Maya. Meche and I are going to check it out and leave her overnight one weekend next month. We'll use that as an excuse for a little get away by ourselves. Plus, I really like heading north where it's more rural and even more wooded. Fionna is going to camp up in the Adirondacks over July 4th weekend and knowing we might have a nice place to board Maya will give us an excuse to stay over a few nights ourselves and explore. Maybe I'll go even farther north and visit my mother's family. Haven't seen them since her funeral. Maybe we'll do that when we pick up Fionna, as I want her to get to know a little more of Grammy's side as well.