We only had to hike about a hundred feet along the Miles Notch Trail off Hut Road in Stoneham to discover that this was the perfect choice for a hot day in May. Well, sorta perfect. A little less heat and humidity would have cinched the deal. But, take a look:

I heard something off to our left and tried to get my guy’s attention. He was looking down and didn’t see our trail partner at first. We found all kinds of evidence that this path was more well trodden by moose and deer, bear and coyote, than human beings. I think we both could have turned around at that point–happy for the sighting.

But . . . we continued our journey, not sure of our destination. Oh, we had a map. And actually met an acquaintance on the road who gave us an apt description as he used his hands to demonstrate the ups and downs of the trail. He was quite accurate in his description.

There were other stars to encounter.

Meet our lady friends.

Each as beautiful as the next.

They wear exotic slippers indeed.

Equally plentiful–rosy lampshades dangled below twisted stalks.

Another dangler beneath striped maple leaves–more umbrella-like in presentation.

Yellow rays of sunshine beamed up at us.

And delicate splashes of color reminded us of paintings.

We even found a darker version of the red theme. I was extremely hot at this point and had visions of ice cream in my head–chocolate, of course.

Not everything was beautiful, but still, the gargoyles were amazing.

And, of course, we found some bear trees. Lots of bear trees.

We crossed several streams–respites from the heat–where we dipped our hats and washed our faces.

For a while we followed the trail toward Red Rock Mountain, but it was hot and we were tired and we had to pick our youngest up at the airport, so we turned around.

I should mention that we had passenger flies, blackflies and mosquitoes for the entire journey–not biting because we were well covered in bug stuff, but  certainly annoying.

That didn’t matter because eight miles later we’d seen plenty of stars, and it’s memories of them that will stay with us.

Oh, and the ice cream–I ate Denali Chocolate Moose Tracks and my guy feasted on Orange Blossom–at The Homestead in Lovell.