A VIEW FOR THE SOUL!

Saturday morning at 5am the clock alarm went off and at that time, with a cool breeze coming in the window, nice soft bed sheets, comfy pillow, ahhhh another 10 minutes ... but no actually, the best time of the day is the morning, fresh, peaceful, brand new ...hop in that shower and wake up!  Lunches were already made the night before and water filled, just breakfast with a toasted egg-cheese-tomato sandwich with a hot cup of coffee, just the right fuel to get us in the car headed towards our destination, that is, Hurricane Mountain.  Sounds wilder than it is, but actually is a most pleasant hike on a soft bed of pine needles, with the occasional plank bridge as boardwalks through boggy flatlands mingled with steep pitches up rocky and rooty terrain ... to a rocky top with a 360 degree view and an old fire tower.  We could see into Vermont across the great Lake Champlain, the hazy view of Mt Mansfield and Camel's Hump, then to the south the Dix Range, Great Range, McIntyre Range, Santanonis, and others and as we turn west, McKenzie and Moose to Whiteface and Esther, the Sentinel Range with Pitchoff in the forefront and Cascade.  Looking north we saw the Jay Range with smaller mountains the Crows and the Soda Range.  Despite the billion black flies eagerly feasting on our flesh, I had to film but quickly pulled out the bug spray and to hose us down literally.  The bug spray worked and we were able to pull out our lunch and enjoy the view.  By the time we were back at the car, our tops were completely soaked with perspiration.  The scenery offered us such a variety and we were pleasantly surprised that our bites were few!