Remembering Titan

October 17, 2020...a day that came too soon, a day that I wasn't prepared for, the day we said goodbye to our boy.

 We decided to start a new tradition on October 17, a way to celebrate and remember Titan.  My idea was to hike Mt. Battie in Camden Hills State Park.  We had driven up there earlier this summer and really liked it and it seemed like a nice way to enjoy the day, while paying tribute to a special dog.  Well...all dogs are special, but he was OUR special.  The Camden Hills are reported to be very pretty in the fall, but we were a little late to see peak foliage.  That was okay since our purpose wasn't to leaf peep.

Although we drove to the summit last time, there are several trails to the top.  We decided upon one of the easier ones to start, the Nature Trail, to the Tablelands Trail, a total of about 1.6 miles.

Unfortunately, it rained overnight and this morning, so the trail was VERY WET and VERY MUDDY and quite SLIPPERY.  The sun was supposed to come out, which it did at home, but not while we were hiking.  It was 57* and breezy, although not bad in the woods.

We left home around 9:30, stopped at McDonalds for breakfast and arrived about 12:30, picked up a map, found a parking space and were headed up the trail at 12:50ish.  

As I said, lots of water...

Steps...yay!

The first mile was indeed "easy", until we crossed the road and continued up the Tableblands Trail.  It was steeper and more rocky and the wet rocks were more difficult to maneuver.  We reached the summit at 2:18, one hour and twenty-five minutes after beginning. 

Somewhere along the trail I found this heart rock.

I love the way these ferns practically grow out of the rocks.

We found ourselves a nice rock to sit on, had some cheese and crackers and toasted Titan with our alcohol free adult beverages.

Cheers Handsome

Titan's ashes are in the little key chain that I carry in my pocket and also in the paperweight that Bill carries in his pocket.  He is always with us.

The view of Camden Harbor is really nice, even on a cloudy day.

We stayed for maybe thirty minutes before heading back down.  Since the top .6 mile was slippery and we worry now about falling and cracking our head open or breaking a hip ;o) we chose to walk down the road until we intersected the Nature Trail.  We did get a nice view of the Camden Hills in the distance.

We picked up the trail at 3:02 and were back at the truck at 3:48.  

These leaves are huge!  This was identified on iNaturalist as a Striped Maple by bjprowse24.  

Who, exactly, does this old hand belong to...

We drove into Camden and had dinner at Cuzzy's Restaurant. We both ordered a cup of chili and shared an order of fried mushrooms.

Although it was mostly cloudy all day, we were treated to a lovely sunset on the ride home.

God willing, we'll do it again next year.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)