The Haunted Hike, Part One

So our Haunted Howloween Hike woz in the Hanging Hills of Hubbard Park in Meriden, Con-Etiquette.  That be the Hanging Hills ahind me in the pikshure above.  And yes, furrends, that do be a haunted castle you see atop the Hanging Hills.  Furst we stopped here in the pawdicured part of the park to get pikshures of the rugged part where we be hiking up above.

Here be wot the haunted Hanging Hills look like from the innerstate when we woz driving in: (spooky)

So while we woz in the pawdicured part of the park, we seened the fattest ducks and gooses efur!

They woz so fat they did not run from me.  Spooky.

OMD, the ducks and geeses has their own island with their own castle!

And take-out catered in fur breakfast.  No wonner they is so fat.

So we hopped back in the car and drived around to the udder side of the park to the House of Target store to meet up with Haley and her mom. 

Haley?  Be that you?

That looks like Haley...

Yup, that be Haley and it be me, Shawnee.

So we left Haley's car there and drived to the trail in my car.  We donned our dorky festive Howloween bandananas.

There be a furry impawtant reason we has the bandanananas on.  You see, the Hanging Hills be haunted by the Black Dog of Hanging Hills wot looks eerily like Haley so we wanted no confuzzlement.

So that be why this hike be haunted and we thought we would only be watching fur the haunted dog coz lots of peeples has falled off the cliffs and made deaded by the haunted dog, but OMD, it be WAY more spookier than that!  You will see...

Let the hiking begin...

Early in the hike we passed a water tower with werds from beyond...

OMD, snow from Snowtober - you know it be colder where spirits is around.  Creepy.

Haley say the trail be blocked by skeery blowdowns from the Snowtober storm of last week.

I leaded the way as the bony fingers of the blowdowns clawed at us and tried to hold us back.  It taked us 2 hours to fight through 1 1/2 miles of blowdowns!  Skeery!

We did finally make it up to the top fur some seeniks.  Check it out, Haley...

The seenik.

Then, ofur on the horizon.... Duss you see it.  OMD, SPOOKY.....

The Sleeping Giant

That be Sleeping Giant State Park coz it be a giant sleeping on his back!  See, that be his head to the right and his legs to the left.  Creepy!  (That water ofur by his feets be the Long Island Sound.)

OMD, a crack in the mountain. We be staying far away from that.  Skeery.

Then...... THE HAUNTED CASTLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haley and I woz checking pee mail (The pee  mail sayed HELP!  STAY AWAY!  RUN FUR YOUR LIFE!) when all of a sudden.....

... we woz all sucked into the castle!  YIKES!

I did wot you sayed Frankie, I had mom on my walking string to keep her safe and I pulled her down those skeery steps back out into daylight.  Haley pulled her mom out too.  But, wate a minit, OMD, how did I get Haley's mom on my walking string?

MOM????? Where is you?  MOM?!?!?!?!?!

MOM?!?!?!?!?!

I must go find my mom......  Why did she not come out of the castle?  How did Haley's mom get my walking string?

~~~~~ TO BE CONTINUED ~~~~~

Pre-Hike

Tomorrow is the day we is hiking with my furrend Haley to make up fur our Haunted Howloween hike wot we missed coz of Snowtober.  But, becoz we missed hiking last weekend and mom has not hiked in 2 weeks, I think she needed some practice so she can keep up with me and Haley tomorrow so I took her on an 8 mile hike today.

Common mom, left, right, left, right...  I picked an easy peasy flat trail fur you.

I do beleef I see a big burd ofer there...

 OMD, I think it do be a Black-crowned Night-Heron!

So then how weird is this...

We hads to walkie UNNER the innerstate highway!  Cars woz going ZOOM ZOOM ofur my hed!

I dussn't know if'n Irene or Snowtober did that but that be a big old oak tree!  RIP, tree.

At least Irene and Snowtober did not mess up the boardwalk.

Uh oh.  I put it in my backpack to carry out even tho I did not carry it in.

It be beginning to look a lot like Chrissmuss.

Wow, this park do be pet furrendly!

They even has a bowl speshull for water fur us dogs. (But I brings my own, thank you.)

Here I is at the Manasquan River.

My Pointer impawsonashun.

I is going through a historic village from the olden days long time ago afore I woz birfed.

Picking up pee-mail at the stage depot.

This church be backwards.  Below it say why.

They has a train too wot you can ride around on in a circle but the train woz not running today.

Then we taked the rail trail back to the car.  This be where trains went in the olden days but now bicycles use it.  And peeples and dogs like me.  And dogs like...

Oh. My. Dog.  It be a gang of little nipper dogs making snarly face at ME!  They be saying "Your booty be OURS you big shepherd dog!"  Their mom woz being rilly bossy with them and telling them they woz noggty to be rude like that to me.  I ignored them and mom told me I woz a good gurl.  Take that you snarly faces!

So I think mom be good to go tomorrow fur our big haunted hike a week late.  We is just hoping all the Snowtober snow be gone where we is going (it mite not be) and that there not be big branches down wot we cannot get through.  See you after I get back!  Or IF I get back coz this hike do be haunted...

Happy Howloween!

The bloopers:

Sydney has DADD - Dog Attention Deficit Disorder

Sorry that she be related to you guys, Norwood and Ruger.

Fur the love of dog....

Haunted Howloween Hike - CANCELLED

Furst we missed our hike coz of Irene, now we missed our hike coz of Snowtober.  Grrrrr.  There is not supposed to be any snows here in October! We had a haunted hike planned in Con-etiquette with my furrend Haley but Snowtober put the kabash on that big time.

• Snow total fur Newark, NJ (by me) - 5.2 inches

• Snow total fur Hartford, CT (by the hike) - 12.3 inches

Where we hiked last weekend in Noo Joisey be unner a foot of snow and where we hiked the weekend afore in Massy-chew-sits be unner TWO feets of snow!  Snowtober did not swipey our powahs but it did swipey our innerwebs and televishun and stuffs yesterday.  It be a werld gone mad, I tells you!

I think the moms mite be talking about doing the hike next weekend and pawtending it be Howloween so we can get all haunted and spooked and all like we woz supposed to today.  But with all the trees falling down with the heaby snow on them, we don't want to be deaded fur real by them.  So I'll be in my hidey spot all snug and warm waiting fur the snow to melt away...