Saturday was “take 2” on the annual Luskville falls/firetower hike. Unfortunately the last minute change of date meant Mike (still) couldn’t make it and Dave was tied up with “new home renovation” work. As it turned out Bryan was able to convince (bribe?) his family to come along so we had an official “party” to put this one in the books. Turned out to be a spectacular day. Soon the bugs will be out but Saturday it got up to the mid 20’s and was sunny for the morning anyway so it felt like full on summer (sans bugs). I had to get up extra early to do a distance certification ride for the MDS Nordion 10k (all is in order now so here’s hoping we get a world record run on the course). As it turned out that worked out well as Bryan could only rouse his family later in the morning so I headed straight up to the Luskville parking lot and met up with them there.

Quick gearing up and we were off…. Stop! Sara had to demonstrate genetics rule by immediately nabbing a snake (like father, like daughter). Even more interesting was no sooner had she nabbed the snake then she had also named it (Edward) and started work to convince Mom and Dad they should take it home to join the family collection of pets (it proved no sale and Edward the snake was returned to his (her?) habitat). From there we were off in earnest and up, up up we went. Several nice breaks on the climb to take in the views and with no leaves on the trees yet there were lots of views to be had. Finally at the upper lookout we stopped for a well earned snack break. Here Bryan deployed some interesting treats from his pack. Chocolates, and several kinds of sweets were dispensed keeping the crew happy. I notice he doesn't carry that kind of stuff when he hikes with just us... I felt like a bit of a fool with my carrots and triscuits. From there we headed up to the tower proper. Clouds had rolled in and a few patches of rain fell but they only served to cool us down and never lasted more than a minute or two. Another good break at the tower and then it was time to head down. By now a lot of people were heading up the trail so we must have picked a pretty good time to head up, beating the hordes who were looking to take advantage of the beautiful (albeit now cloudy) day. No sign of Edward at the base so it was off to the local poutine shack (part of Bryan’s bribery agreement I understand). As it turns out this shack has the “meilleur poutine du monde” (it said so right on the sign by the road so it must be true). Who would have thought, in all of the world, we would stumble across the best poutine anywhere – lucky days indeed! An excellent hike with a good crew. Glad we were able to get this hike in the books pre-black flies.