Vacation 2013 - Post #4, Catoctin Mountain Park

On our last stop before entering Gaithersburg, Maryland and seeing our friends that we met in China, the Gonsalves, we stopped off for a brief visit/hike at Catoctin Mountain Park.  I'm not exactly sure in what area we hiked, but I believe we were within a mile of Camp David.

The hike was not too crazy far and not too crazy steep and simply, not too crazy.  Which is a good thing when you've been in a vehicle for a long time.  A nice walk over mildly hilly terrain is a perfect break and quite frankly, the different smells of the forests are interesting.  This place, while not having a strong aroma, was noticeably different smelling than say, Great River Bluffs State Park in Minnesota which is different than the Great Smokey Mountains and so on.

Why do I remember the smells of these various places?  I don't know for sure, but the first place that struck me as different "smelling" was up in Northern Minnesota when Robby was just a little squirt and we spent a week at Loons Echo cabins (I think) with Grandma & Grandpa.  I recall riding one of the bicycles out to a helicopter clearing (in the event of forest fires) and just sitting on a big boulder thinking that I couldn't hear anything other than nature, and that is when the smell hit me.  It was different than other places I had been...

Anyway...

So we stopped and went for a short hike.  It would have been cool to kick off the shoes and socks to go climbing, but this day was not meant for that type of exploration.

On to the photographic evidence of our visit:

This is from the main look-out platform once you get to the end of the trail.  There were signs to not leave the path, but obviously most of the folks did not adhere to the posted rules.  I can see why. It was quite inviting to go for a wade and a climb.

From roughly the same vantage point but I'm trying to show how far up people hiked (crawled) from where we were at.  Squint real hard... they're up there!

A slightly wider vantage point of the braver (crazier) folks.

This was a cool outcropping of rocks that the photo does not do justice too.

Caleb took a picture of Mom and Dad on the hike back to the car.  I need to go on a diet...

And so, with this post, nearly 6 months after it occurred in real life, I believe I have the first day of our vacation documented!!  Only about 7 or 8 more to go...