Adventure: Number 1

A Walk in the Pines

This past Saturday, I brought my two friends and mother on the first of Rita's Documented Adventures. It was absolutely gorgeous weather for our little hike. In the Pine Barrens, we went for an 8.5 mile hike. We hiked through the forested area, and we reached the highest point in the Pine Barrens, Apple Pie Hill. Apple Pie Hill is 209 feet above sea level. What an arduous adventure! *sarcasm* It was really beautiful though, so I was able to look past the sadness of the height of our hill.

At the beginning of the hike, we bundled up in heavy coats, hats, headbands and hiking boots or sneakers. It was a bit chilly out, so we wanted to be comfortably bundled in warm clothing. The trail was marked in pink spray paint. It was usually a little strip of the tree trunk that was painted for hiker's convenience. At first, we were following a sandy and snowy road to the path. I assume that we could have driven this far, but we chose not to take the easy route. This road was not as straight-forward as one would have hoped. There were several forks in the road that made this beginning rather difficult. Someone may be thinking that we should just follow the pink tree paint. Well, thanks to the people who are supposed to make sure it doesn't peel off of the bark, we couldn't see the painted trees very well. The paint was worn down so much that we practically had to inspect the trees to find a pink patch. Somehow we found our way to the actual trail in the forest, and it was absolutely gorgeous.

 We followed a river (above) for the first section of the foot trail. It was one of those rivers that makes you feel so calm. You could inhale a deep cold breath, and you would feel so relaxed and tranquil. It was stunning, and I couldn't help but snap a few pictures. The beautiful banks had some ice blocks on the surface from the cold weather. When the trail started to pick up, we reached an awesome bridge. I am really fascinated by this bridge. Don't ask why. I have weird fascinations. It was big enough to fit a car, so again we could have driven this far, but we didn't. It was over the river from before, with tree roots in the water and with calm but flowing water cascading over pebbles and twigs.

 After we crossed the big bridge, there was a longer period of the trail walking alongside a small creek, flooded with pine trees in a wonderful way. This part of the hike wasn't all too exciting. It mostly consisted of my friend Maddie, leading us through the trail, my mom, chatting up a storm and me, singing random pop songs to my other friend Sedona. We had fun, but there really isn't much to say for this piece of our adventure. Soon we reached a series of three adorable foot bridges! They were quite small in width, but they were quite long. They crossed the little creeks that I found so cute, if I'm allowed to call bridges and creeks "cute"!

 I'm telling you. It's cute!

 These bridges lead to the "hills". I mean they were hills, but they were so tiny that I can barely even consider them hills. On the way up these extremely slight inclined hills we made a lot of jokes about the hill's size. Maddie would say, "Guys, we are so high above sea level that the air thinning so much!" To which I would reply, "I am having trouble breathing!" Sedona would tell us, "I can't keep my footing! This mountain is too steep!" Even my mom joined into our playful jokes saying, "I don't think I will make it to the top of this hill. It's so far, you should just go on without me!" We finally saw Apple Pie Hill ahead of us. Also in our view was -what do you know- the road. We could have driven all the way to Apple Mountain and skipped the few miles that we hiked! Oh well, I'm sure the exercise was good for us! On the way up this hill, my friends and I stopped to take a few silly pictures.

We reached the top of the hill, and there was a fire tower at the very top. It was really tall, but I stupidly decided to go to the top. Maddie decided that she didn't want to risk her life on a fire tower, and stayed at the bottom. Sedona, my mom and I started to go up the tower. This was a mistake on my part. I love heights, but I am terrified of falling. This fire tower, barely had any railings -you know, to keep you from falling off the tower. It also was a very windy day. This metal tower was shaking and creaking in the cold wind. I was horrified. Sedona and I made it to the very top -or at least as far up as the tower allowed. We went back down a level to take a selfie with my mom, and then I ran down the steps to get off of that insecure fire tower. Here is the view that I had for the few seconds that I bared on the top level.

We stayed atop the hill for a few minutes, just to give our legs a break from all the walking.

 From left to right: Rita, Sedona, and Maddie

We headed back to the car, on the same path as earlier. This time our legs were starting to get tired, and the only conversations were about how I kept singing annoying pop songs. We were so happy when we reached the first little foot bridge, because that meant that we were half way to the car! The creeks looked absolutely fabulous now. The sun was setting and the fog was settling in above the water. It looked exactly like a scene from a creepy movie. I am very angry with myself that I didn't get a good picture of this. To be honest, I squatted down to take the picture, but my legs were so tired that I fell over, and that made me decide to not worry about the picture and just keep going. We kept walking and finally reached the car. It was parked among other hikers; although these hikers were camping through the night. They all had their campfires roaring, and with my freezing hands, I really fought the urge to run to one of the stranger's fires. We all finally got in the car, and realized that our first adventure was a success in a beautiful area.THANKS FOR READING :)

Until my next adventure,

It's been great!

Don't forget...

Learn to love the skies you're under!