emma-mountainThis past week I took my family to one of my favorite places…Maine. I like all of New England, but Maine is probably my favorite due to the sparse population and vast areas of unspoiled wilderness, fairly rare for states east of the Mississippi. The fall foliage was in full color and it proved to be a treasure trove of opportunities for a nature photographer such as myself…I will be posting some of them in the coming days.

But first I’ll start of my Maine posts with perhaps the highlight of the trip… Emma’s very first mountain climb! We decided to hike the trail to the summit of Gorham Mountain. It’s not a particularly huge mountain, but the trail has close to 500′ of vertical elevation gain, not exactly a walk in the park.

As it turned out, Emma was ready and willing for the challenge. The trail was perfect for her, challenging, yet not overly dangerous. There were lots of rocks and boulders the climb over and keep things interesting. Once at the top, the views of the surrounding mountains and ocean were spectacular.

Then it was time to head back down and once again, Emma lead the way with us working to keep up!