Castlerock State Park (17 miles)…

Yay!  So another Sunday, another hike with the Stanf…uh, well it’s no longer the Stanford Outing Group actually.  Apparently there was some lame reason why Stanford wouldn’t allow the club to continue as a sanctioned group so they’ve now formed the Outing group on Google groups.  Hmm, perhaps not the best choice of a name for a club about hiking but rest assured we’re still all about hiking and the outdoors.  =)

This hike was especially cool because my mom came with me.  I had to laugh because there were so many things that she did during the hike that made me say “Like mother, like daughter.”  The first similarity was our appearance.  We both wore the same black workout pants and a thermal shirt layered over a tank-top.  The second similarity was the amount of pictures my mom took.  I always take lots of pictures to document my trips and unless someone is nice enough to offer to take a picture of me you’ll see a lot of pictures of other people and head shots of me (as much as I can get into the frame at arms length).  With my mom and I trading off with the camera we both got lots of great shots.  Like this one..

Hiking down the Saratoga Gap trail

And this one of “V” and me checking out the view from the Saratoga Gap ridge trail.

Admiring the view

Next it was my turn to take pictures.  Ah Meems looks like she’s having such a great time.  And she’s so photogenic.  =)

Meemers posing by a tree

The next similarity was how quickly we both hike.  Even as fast as “V” hikes my mom was right on his tail.  That’s my mom.  =)

Keeping up with "V"

So everything was going great until we hit this section where we had to hike uphill after we were already getting a bit fatigued.  Despite my moms affinity for nature that didn’t stop a tree from jumping out and biting her on the foot thus tripping her and causing her to “eat it.”  Uh-oh, that looks painful.  Since when did trees start “felling” people?

Oh snap! That's a good looking cut.

Ok, now you're getting the idea. Battlescars are cool! =)

Even with a cut arm and knee my mom kept on hiking at an amazing pace and didn’t complain once.  Aw, what a trooper!  Way to go Meemers.  As “V” said, “You’re a toughie.”  😉

The hike was completely awesome and we both had a great time.  We had planned on a 12-13 mile hike but according to Ilya and his GPS we hiked a total of 17.1 miles.  Totally worth it.

Meemers and me at the finish

During the hike my mom also met some really nice people including a scientist named Yin who works with polymers used for medical diagnostic tests.  Pretty incredible stuff.

Yin and Meems chat while the sun goes down

By the end of the day, Meems had made a great friend and hopefully we’ll meet up on some other trip in the future.

Yin and Meemers

We got back to the parking lot around 6:30pm and after some quick pictures and we shuttled back to the park entrance and then prepared to head home.  Ilya brought his GPS which showed our total mileage to be 17.1 miles.  I’ll take it!  =)

Trip totals

For more pictures, check out my Google photo album.  Thanks for a great trip “V”.  Can’t wait for the next one.  =)