We had a great hike this past Saturday up to Puzzle Mountain with a group of ten hikers total.  Puzzle is a great little mountain topping out at just over 3,000 feet.  There are three peaks which from the air form a triangle.

Our goal was the first peak.  There is a relatively new loop near the top of the mountain called the Woodsum Loop, but since taking this route would add almost two miles to our hike, we decided to opt for the west peak of Puzzle.

The weather was forecast to be warm and sunny, and in fact it turned out to be even warmer and more humid than expected.  While the terrain is mostly moderate with a few steep sections, it was slow going in the heat.  The trail winds through hardwood forests until reaching the 500-acre Stewart Family Preserve which surrounds the mountain.  On top of the mountain we all ate lunch, checked out the view and attempted to identify distant peaks and lakes with binoculars.  There were plenty of blueberries to pick and all of them were tasty and ripe.  Shyla the dog had a less-than-amicable encounter with another black labrador retriever, her first of two encounters with an identical looking dog on the hike.

On the hike down, a minimum of the hike attendees asked trip leader Simon Rucker how much further it was to get back to the trailhead parking lot, which usually happens.  The group had plenty to talk about and the weather cooled down enough to make the return trip speedy.

If you want to join us for one of our monthly (and occasionally more frequent) hikes, check our website or social media pages.