Who knew middle school would change me?

Some of my fondest memories are from late middle school early high school. I joined a group of Explorers. It was a division of boy scouts that focused on hiking and outdoor activities and although many of my friends thought it was cheesy and teased me it really was the best of times. And to this day I like nothing better than spending time with friends and nature, feeling the stretch and pull of using every single muscle and ascending to finally glimpse unbelievably beautiful vistas.

Lucky for me my husband, although a city boy, spent part of his youth in northern Ontario, exploring with his own set of Polish Scouts. Hiking, biking, canoeing... 

And now we live in one of the most beautiful places in the US. Acadia is the second most visited National Park, right behind Yosemite. 

Then we met Kyla, who met Dave and they love, love, love to hike. And they are adventurous! Dave is from  Colorado and is no stranger to mountains and the outdoors. Kyla has hiked everywhere - even Mt Washington and she does it with such grace. 

The Jordan Cliff Trail - although just above the Pond House involved metal rungs that you used to climb the sheer areas and some cliff hugging but overall it was a steady up and up and up.

Starting to look sweaty! Almost there!

We ended up doing two mountains because three hours just didn't seem long enough (at the time) and we worked up an appetite for a delicious lunch in Bar Harbor.