This time of year is real hit and miss for family activities outdoors for those of us who don't ski or snowboard.  But with a watchful eye on the weather reports, its not too hard to find some good days to stretch the legs and lace up the boots.  High Point, exit 20 off of I-90, has some great opportunities for hiking on Tiger Mountain.  A few weeks ago I took both of my kids up and did the loop around Tradition Lake.  Saturday had some sky breaks and so Kael and I headed up to High Point again.  This time our goal was Talus Rocks. 

 

We headed up the Bus Line trail, took a left onto Nook trail and headed up the mountain.  It's a well maintained trail at this point.  There are even a couple of benches on the trail  We reached the Talus Rocks trail.  It pointed to the left for a connector to the West Tiger Vista 3 trail or to another trail to the right (can't recall the name).  But it pointed both directions for the Talus Rocks trail.  We headed right.  The map in the trail book showed a small loop so we thought we were close.  But the grade climbed quickly and it was wearing out Kael (who is only 4).  It also turned into an unmaintained trail and was difficult going.  So, we found a spot for a break and chatted with some folks coming down who confirmed we had another 30 minutes of uphill hiking to go.  It was time to turn around.  But we enjoyed the woods, seeing a low flying plane, a squirrel, some birds and several snack breaks.

 

Kael was tired out but even at our last stop before turning around, he said he wanted to keep going up.  Hopefully I haven't made him regret hiking yet, next one will have to be easier with some more interesting stops to keep him excited.