Last Sunday my husband invited some friends to go mountain climbing. So, while everyone else in the world was enjoying Easter dinner, we were on a two hour hike. I admit, I wasn't really looking forward to it, but it was a perfect day for climbing- clear and quite warm- and I'm glad I went. I hadn't been up there in several years and it was so beautiful.

This is a view from the parking lot. That doesn't look so bad, does it?

Here are a couple of nature finds along the way:

We have a lot of pileated woodpeckers in the area, so I'm assuming that's what made these holes. I'm not sure what else would have made a hole that big. 

My son found this feather, but we weren't sure what kind of bird it was from. As I was taking this picture, I noticed that the dark edge was actually matted with blood. Poor bird!

And here we are at the top. (The brown place on the right side of the photo is the top of the trail.) And if you look at the picture below, you can see the county where we live. (Please excuse the graffiti. There's always someone who likes to spoil the view for others.)

This is the top of the mountain. The four people in front are our friends who hiked with us. Their son, who is almost two actually walked almost the whole way up.