Little did he know the adventure he was getting into, when our youngest son decided to join us on this hike. Driving into the parking lot I started to wonder "will have a place to park", after our 1 hr drive, since the place was packed. With our packs and hiking sticks we set out into the woods. Starting our journey we came across 3 people ending theirs. They recommended taking the donkey path. "It's a steep climb but worth it at the top." We took his advice and headed up the donkey trail. The path was a little rocky but soon we were introduced to the first relic of the mining era of this mountain, the roasting ovens. Roasting ovens were used to drive carbon & sulfur out of the ore on its way to becoming steel. Standing inside these huge ovens you can see the world from the ore perspective. We continued up the trail which looks like it was made out of the old ore cart paths to get the ore from the mountain to the ovens. Not long later you come across the first mine shaft that you can look inside. They have been mostly closed off so you can see inside but not go inside. It's interesting to look into the guts of the mountain and picture what it felt like to work there. Next we came across a number of air vents. These are covered with steel cages (wonder if they used local steel?), with slates that are only large enough to look through but not get through. You can see the deep gash in the earth. You can hear the continuous rain as the water coming out of the moss drops into the depths below. After all this it was lunch time. We found a large table like rock on the side of the path. After lunch we came to a divergence in the path. The blue trail (Hodge trail) headed off into one direction and Carter loop headed into another. We decided to take Carter loop (red trail). During this tedious trail we came across a hiker that had gotten lost and said the trail does look like it loops. We forged on and found the loop, which is in the middle of the trail. This area may look better in the summertime but to us it was an overall detraction from an interesting hike. This is the first time my son started to ask if it was time to go home yet. After the Carter loop we got back on the blue trail, our moods instantly improved. As you follow the trail down the mountain you see and hear babbling brooks, tranquil ponds, and boulder mounds. If it wasn't so late in the day we would have loved to stop and play in these miny mountains. They look as if a baby giant was building rock piles. Then you come on the river, which looks like a great place to set up a hammock and relax in the sun. We made it back to the lower compound of the mining operation, to see the cold furnace and the casting lanes. We need to go back to understand and see what this area might have looked like in its hay day. For us it was time to go as we were sore and tired after our 8 mile hike. But, we...
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