Since I am a man of limited imagination and I was still feeling good about the hike I took with Cole, it seemed reasonable to kick it up a notch or two.
A woman I work with climbed Mt. Tibrogargan recently and said the route was suitable for the kids. At 364 metres, it is not much taller than the last one we did and it looks fun. I packed enough food and water for a four hour hike and we were on our way.
The route was very reasonable, until we reached the section in the photo above which is fairly steep and crosses the line between scrambling up rocks and actually climbing. It required me to leave one child unsupervised as I climbed behind the other one. I sent Cora up first; a decision I soon regretted as I heard her cute little voice going back and forth on the rocks above while Cole and I were ascending. The entire time I was shouting "Cora! Sit on your bottom." To which she was replying "Ok Dad!" while roaming around close to the edge.When we made it up to a flat spot I was surveying the next stretch of rock (and wondering how my co-worker ever thought this was kid friendly):
and I looked down to see that my shoe decided to cash it in.
It was really weird because these shoes have faithfully served me for at least six years and when I put them on this morning there was no indication that they were going to self destruct. I am still a fan of Asolo boots and would like to extend a 'grazie' to any of their fine craftsmen reading this in Italy.Moving on. I took out my knife, performed surgery on the sole, and spent the rest of the day hiking around in just the boot which is further testament to the solid construction of the shoe.
The kids ate an early lunch while I pondered our circumstances. I am sure we could get to the top with enough time, but it wasn't going to happen today.We successfully got back down, with the aid of another hiker who was looking for an excuse to perform a good deed. Since we cut the climb short, I took the kids on a 3 km circuit around the hill and properly wore them out.

Here are a couple photos of my favorite tree of the day:




