May 20, 2014 : Prescott Tr.; Mt. Livermore; Old Mountain Rd.

First day out. Our plan: to hike the 50 miles that Squam Lakes Association has designated - and to earn our Squam Ranger hats! We started on Old Mountain Road - me (the photographer, not in evidence in this day's photos) and Hunter and our #3 ranger, Rumi, the black pup that shows up over and over again, our Portuguese water dog. Our plan was to hike up the Old Mountain Rd. to Prescott Trail, up over Mt. Livermore on the Ridge Trail, and then to circle back down to Old Mountain Rd. and back: 4.5 miles. It would have been a breeze - the leaves just com ing out, a nice breeze, perfect day - but then I thought I knew the way - and we took a wrong (unlabeled) turn onto a heavily logged area. Thanks to Hunter's wisdom, we gave up after 15 or 20 minutes, returned to the Old Highway and found Prescott Trail

. It was in beautiful condition - tall old growth king pines, stone walls. We chanced on a snake slithering across the trail and watched a huge bird fly overhead: was it an eagle? hawk? The views at the top were breathtaking. The decent took us to Burleigh Farm - postcard perfect. We chanced on a tiny frog on our loop back to the car...