Mudbog Hill 1250' 500P' 1/2/12

After last week's enjoyable outing I thought a similar type of day was in order. With the weather dry and the kid's still out of school I thought I shouldn't let this opportunity pass by. The girls are starting to get into the peakbagging thing especially as I have started each of them a page on Peakbagger.com. I guess the compulsion doesn't fall too far from the tree. We made our customary stop at Tiger Mt. Store and I was dismayed that all the drinks were not cold. After chatting up the cashier, I found that the store had all the copper wire stolen over the long weekend, making their compressor non functional. Hard to believe that all that effort was worth the risk for the perpetrators. After the girls finally each made their decision on what snack to take we were off. I decided on Mudbog Hill because it was on List of John and looked to have logging road access tot the summit. I am not sure that the girls would enjoy a low elevation bramble bash of some obscure low lying hill.

   Just before the train track crossing we parked at a wide spot in front of the locked gate. There was plenty of signage to discourage further exploration so what follows may or may not be a collective figment of my family's imagination. After getting situated we may or may not have started up the nicely paved road. The road climbed steeply and then switched to gravel.  After a short descent we found ourselves at a small lake or what may be considered the "Mudbog" this hill is named after. Soon the pitch increased and the girls were losing their enthusiasm. Thankfully only one at a time would do this making motivation somewhat easier. Once we reached the saddle the winds really increased and it was a bit nippy. We followed the road until it crested and left the road cross country for a short ways to make the summit. After a brief round of high fives we retraced our steps back to the road.

   Finding a dry sheltered spot we all enjoyed a family moment enjoying our summit success. Much to my surprise a group of 3 motorcycle riders came up the road and as soon as they saw us they turned around. Thankfully relieving me of the burden of explaining what we were doing.  After finishing our snacks we headed down hoping to outrun the inpending rain. Soon after we again saw the riders and as soon as they saw me they quickly turned around. Evidently we must look pretty imposing. A bit further down the road we ran across a nice couple out for an afternoon hike. Soon we were back at the car thankfully before the rain arrived. I am very thankful my girls were both willing and enjoyed themselves. Nothing beat their excitement to update their climbing page.... a proud papa I am.

Approx 3 miles 700' of climb 2:30 Car to Car