When our lake camping trip went bust, I took the kids up Ampersand Mountain. (From the top, we could see the two islands where we should have been camping that very day!) It was a good consolation prize. We had a great time. Otis did the entire thing on his own two feet. Juniper got “tired” right when we got to the steep part and rode in the backpack for the remainder of the hike. That was fine, though. Otis was starting to get a couple blisters and Juniper “volunteered” her nice dry socks for extra padding.

That them up on top of the mountain. (No, they didn’t hike barefoot.) And here they are for a windswept selfie with Ol’ Dad: