Sawyer Mountain

Another day of full sun was in the forecast. How could I fit a snowshoe trip between dropping my son at basketball practice at 8:00am and my daughter at a birthday party at 4:00pm?? I had read a lot of trip reports on Sawyer Mountain. It is just above Indian Lake and is described as a good mountain to introduce hiking to kids. I intended to bring my nephew on a climb up this mountain but we weren't sure about him doing it on snowshoes. Today was the day that this 2.2 mile RT mountain would come in handy for Reagan's second snowshoe. She only wanted to know if it was easier than Hadley...when I expressed that it was definitely going to be easier, she decided to tag along. She entertained herself along the trail, leading most of the way up and doing an intentional and way cool butt slide on the way down. She was motivated to keep pressing ahead because there were children behind us on the trail and one of them was a boy. I told her that for one thing.....we don't want that BOY to beat us to the top and another thing.....we wanted to make it to the summit first in order to get the best seat for the view. She only rested a few times and we were successful. Even with Reagan it was just one hour to the top. Along the way she expressed interest in the animal tracks. We spotted Fisher tracks, Mole tracks, Snowshoe Hare prints and just when Reagan was in need of a diversion from the task of climbing....someone who had gone before us had built an 18 inch snowman on a rock right alongside the trail. CUTE!!!

Unfortunately, she seems to really care NOTHING for the color of the sky that my father described as Bluebird Blue. At 3/4 of the way to the summit there are finally some lookouts with nice long distance clear viewing.....NOPE, not impressed. I tried to tell her that the view is the reward for the exertion. She insists that MONEY is a reward. I told her blind people would probably pay a lot of money to be able see the view that she was taking for granted. You can lead a horse to water....regardless, it was good that she came today.

The sun was so warm and bright, the snow was sparkling like diamonds. My mind wandered to a time when maybe it will be Me..hiking with a daughter who loves it as much as I do. I will wait as patiently as my father did.