Weekend Wanderings (with a shotgun of course!)

This weekend I got to go on a hike with Christian, the middle grade teacher.  We went to this place called Three Star that is a short drive from the school.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful hike.  From the top I could see the entire village and all the surrounding mountains and the ocean.  It was a very neat experience.  However, it was also quite a treacherous little hike.  It was not far - maybe a mile and a half up to the top - but there were some parts where I did not want to look down, and if I had tripped it would have been bad news.  We did not see any bears on our hike, but I keep hearing that they're around.  We brought the bear spray and the shotgun along to be safe.  It was my job to carry the bear spray, which I dropped and almost lost in the ocean before we even really started the hike....climbing over rocks with a can of bear spray sticking out of your pocket is not the most secure way to carry it I have learned.  I tucked it inside my coat into another pocket, and it was safe for the rest of the hike.  I have to admit that I was a little embarrassed after dropping it, but hey, I've never carried bear spray in my life until coming here, so I'm just learning how to safely handle a can of this stuff.  In my defense, I figured that it would be more useful if it was easy to get to in case we did come across a bear, which is why I put it in my outside pocket to begin with.  Thankfully I did not have to test that theory :-)

Here are some pictures of my hike up Three Star.

An eagle hanging out on a branch at the top of a cliff.  There were several of them around.

At the bottom before we started up.

Beautiful view.

That is a cliff.  At one point during the hike I was sitting on the other side of it (to the left in the bushes).  As you can see, it drops straight down.  It was my least favorite part of the hike.  I just barely looked over the edge briefly and that was enough for me.  Christian said that I would want to put my camera over the edge and take a picture........heck no!

This is a picture from closer to the top (it might even be the top, I don't remember).  Those three hills (not quite a mountain) are what we climbed up.

Surrounding mountains.

Some islands near Perryville.

This picture and the next few following it are views from the top.

Anchored boats.  They're pretty much stuck there until spring.

Islands.

That big white mass in the background is the volcano.

Those little dots in the distance are the village.

That blue building is the school (I think).

Christian standing next to one of the sheer rock face cliffs to give a proper scale as to how big it was.  Very frightening.  I hate heights.

The cliff again.  I did not look over the edge on the way down.  I tried to get past it as quickly as possible.

One of the places where a trip/fall would have been ugly.

We discussed how a person might rock climb this on our way down.  It's safe to say that I will never be a rock climber :-)

A fox walked right across the path in front of us.

There he is walking through the trees.

He's hiding in the woods.

Beautiful.

It was a fun hike, but also very tiring.  It wasn't a long hike, but there were a lot of branches/ruts/bushes to climb under/through/over and there wasn't much of a trail, so we kind of had to break our way through in some areas.  I was scared for my life a couple of times when I was trying not to trip for fear of falling down a cliff.  I also had on quite a few layers because the weather can change in an instant there, so I was very warm and sweaty on that sunny day.  My legs are still pretty sore, but it was worth it.  I got to see some beautiful views that I wouldn't have seen otherwise.  

Next week (weather permitting) we might hike up to the cross that's on the top of another big hill.  We'll see.  Christian says that hike has a lot less trees and brush and no cliffs :-)  I'm good with that.  Hope everyone enjoys the pictures.  I'll post again soon!