The Summit Of Elephant Head Mountain

The trail sign said that the distance to the summit was only a half mile, but I'd have sworn it was longer than that. Or perhaps I was swayed by the added couple of miles we'd walked because the access road was in such poor condition. At any rate, it was a pleasure to see this nice view looking off to the south:

I had to look over the tops of the trees to see the nearby mountains:

Well, this was all very nice but to be honest, I was fighting feelings of disappointment. Perhaps I've been spoiled by all the spectacular mountaintop views I've recently experienced, but this was not much of a view to be a hiking destination:

But I tried to stifle my dissatisfaction and be grateful for the beauty before me. And then I walked to the north side of the summit and was encouraged to see that the view there was better:

In fact, it was not only better - it was magnificent! That's Lake Titus below. My farm is located off to the upper left of the photo (behind the tree branches), not too far away. As you can see in the lower right of the photo, Clover and Daphne went exploring:

And to the northeast was a rather large, unidentified mountain covered with trees just beginning to clothe themselves in autumn colors:

The view to the northwest was even more colorful and I sat down to relax and allow the mountaintop quiet and serenity to fill me up:

When it came time to leave, I made one more pass by the southerly view:

And then we began hiking back to the car. When we arrived at the rough stairs, Fergus and the Papillons ran down them with great joy:

Seamus, however, waddled down them with his extra-wide hips swaying like an obese hula dancer. Oh, how I wished I'd have been able to capture it on video! But this photo is all I was able to save: