Allen Head Hike

A few days ago, TOGs decided to go hiking the Allen Head trail at Shelburne Harbor on Lake Champlain. It has been many years since we have done this, so we knew it was time to add this trail back to our repertoire of hikes. The walk started out fine and we even remembered this bridge and stairway across one of the small creeks. 

However, once we got to Allen Hill, one old goat turned into a chicken....me! I started up the steep, well worn trail, but with my fear of heights, remembrance of a broken ankle and the rolling stones along the way, I felt like I was going to fall backwards and opted to go back down. The photo below makes it look like just a flat trail, but it wasn't and this is only the first part with the second half steeper. 

Luckily there are several other trails that lead to the bay overlook and beach, bypassing the actual hill and cliff. I tried to convince Dave to go up the hill by himself, but being the good husband he is, he stayed with me on the inside route. We made it to the little beach and the boats were serenely floating on their moorings, protected from the south wind...

You would never know that the wind was blowing 25-30 mph, unlike the Burlington waterfront where the boats were not protected in the southerlies. Look close at the one sailboat doing a 'wheelie' as  it pitches in the waves, and another is blown sideways and leaning over.

The ironic thing about this blog post is that I was trying to find out how long ago it was that we did this daytrip, and found the post about it from five years ago. I had to laugh because the photos were almost exactly the same! History repeats itself, although I did make it up the hill that day. Oh well, it's all about compromise and as Dave said, "it's better to be a live chicken than a dead goat." 😉