Are we actually going to do this?

 Erin is brilliant.   It was all her idea.

For 2 years now, since before all of this pandemic craziness... since before it was cool,  my family and I have been hiking.  Every Sunday for all of 2020 and almost every Sunday of 2021 my family of 4 has ventured forth in our immediate vicinity in search of tiny natural oasis's.  And we've found many!  We have hit what feels like all of the state parks, Audubon sanctuaries, Trustees reservations, local conservation areas, glorified picnic areas and beaches that offered a 2-4 mile hiking loop within 30 minutes of our house.  Our kids have gone from being 3 and 5 and complaining most of the way to being 5 and 7 and talking about Pokemon most of the way (with still a few complaints here and there).  We've gone from barely eeking out 2 miles to doing 5 plus (sometimes 6!) with snacks and distractions.  

We have learned many lessons along the way, not least of which is that these places exist, and most of them are pretty awesome... and that there is more than one way for people to re-connect with the spiritual parts of themselves, even in these trying times.  We have learned that family activities are still very much worth it, and that hiking outdoors is a pretty perfect pandemic activity, even if you want to see some friends who aren't in your bubble.

We have learned that making espresso with a tiny alcohol burner on the trail might seem like an extravagance but is VERY WORTH IT for two tired parents.

We did not repeat very many... but we learned that some of them are worth repeating.  

Lately though, we've been trying to figure out where to go from here.  There were more loops near us, mostly in parks we'd been too at least once and all either or shorter or longer than those we had already done.  We could go further away to find new ground or....

Erin did some internet searching and uncovered an interesting idea.   There is a trail... The Bay Circuit trail that runs from the south shore in a wide arc through the Boston suburbs and re-connects with the ocean on the North Shore.

It would require some planning...  and multiple cars..  and some pretty good buy in from the kiddos... and a few years of Sunday's....  but we... we could do it.  

As for the planning bits... the trail website (https://www.baycircuit.org/) has maps (14!) and a meticulous trail guide as well as some history of the route.  There is less information about a community of folks who have completed, or even attempted the trail.   Most additional information we used to try and decide if we would pursue this came from a WickedLocal series of articles Wicked Local Trail story.

Erin and I looked at each other..   Are we actually going to do this?