Hiking at Blodgett

Today, the dog and I decided to try out a new place. We went to Blodgett Peak Open Space. We got a late start at about 4:00 p.m. It gets dark around 6:00 p.m. so we had plenty of time. The dog is always thrilled to try out new places. That means there are plenty of new spots to sniff. The trails were partially dry, partially muddy, and partially snowy and icy. There were some ominous clouds in the sky. It was about 42 degrees. I layered my clothes and wore a hat and gloves. Since it was mostly cloudy it made it a little chilly. We saw two bikers, one runner, one man with his dog and another lady hiker so the trails were pretty quiet. We stayed mostly on the main trail and tried a couple of side trails. It did actually snow a tad bit on us for a couple of minutes. The most eventful thing that happened on this hike was that the dog wanted to pull me down the steep part of the trail that had snow and ice. I had to take him off his leash while we went down the steep part so that I could pick my way through the ice. We then lost the trail under the snow and came to a dead end that went into some thick brush. This is when my son called on my cell phone twice to get his bank account number. It still amazes me to be able to take a call while hiking in the mountains. We looked for a couple other ways out but couldn't find the trail out. We back tracked not looking forward to going up the steep part with the ice. Fortunately, after back tracking, we found another trail and was able to avoid the steep icy part. This led us back to the main trail. It was a little annoying because the dog was now back on his leash and decided he wanted to run back to the car. I had to keep slowing him up especially through the snowy and icy parts. It was a beautiful place. A good hike for the end of a busy day. Not too strenuous but a pretty good work out, beautiful mountain scenery, and beautiful scenery looking over the city. We will be going there again. There are some other side trails that we want to check out. The dog did have to have a paw and belly wash when we got home. I'm always glad that I keep a couple of old towles in the trunk to keep the back seat from getting muddy.