Devil's Backbone, Cedar Creek
Our commitment to regular family hiking has been sorely neglected these past few months. We have a cue of about 10 new trails we'd like to explore, but between piano, soccer, birthday parties, Jeremy's college classes and my participation in almost every school committee, it just isn't happening. Time to do something about that. We got a tip about this place called the Devil's Backbone. It's less than a 15 minute drive from our house and there is no better time than mid-October to get the best views around. Check this out.
This was the drive to the trail. How beautiful is that?! Maybe a spot for family pictures next year.
My cute family before we start our hike.
So here's the thing about this trail. It's actually more of a road and it's only about 1/2 mile long. The reason you come here is for the expansive views in every direction. The "backbone" is a ridge overlooking a creek bed and valleys. I love a good fall hike, but I bet this place in winter would also be amazing. You could see forever once the leaves are off the trees. There aren't many places to veer off the trail and it's actually pretty dangerous if you do. It is pretty much a straight drop down on one side of the trail. Scary!
Some rocky bluffs out in the distance.
View to the west of the trail.
This is about halfway down the trail, looking back up. I don't particularly like the kind of hikes where you hike downhill for a long time and then the only way to get back to the starting point is to go back up the hill. Unfortunately, since we like hiking to creek beds, this is about the only type of trail we travel. This one wasn't too bad though. It was a gradual incline and didn't take that long.
This is the view through the trees on the east side of the trail.
Happy hikers.
Here's the bottom of the trail. It splits off to private property to the right, so we went the other way.
This was a surprise at the end of the trail. An old iron bridge. It seemed so out of place. I wonder what the story here is.
So interesting.
And of course the boys' favorite activity - throwing rocks in the water.
Watch out!
I was surprised there was so much water given how little rain we've had recently. I wonder what this looks like in the summer.
A perfect spot for wading next summer.
Probably one of the last weekends that we will get out without jackets.
The boys were fascinated by this bridge.
And boy, were these boys exhausted on the way back up. We had to stop several times for a water break. My kind of hike.
Until next time!
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