Hiking in Hobbit Land

Hard to believe there are still places like this around here. Completely pristine country with meadows and mountains and granite rock and birds and beauty everywhere. We had a great day checking out this wonderful spot. This picture is the guide who took us in. He was quite the character, not a lot of patience for dumb questions which you can imagine, I asked a few. I got into a mode with him though since I was his driver and I wasn't gonna keep getting verbally pushed around. :D I think we understood each other by the end. .. Cool thing was my son, Erik found an incredible arrowhead, dating from who knows when near the trail where we were hiking. He showed it to the guide and never got it back. It was "appropriated" as the government sometimes tells us. So bizarre. I did understand that it was an archeological find and needed to be kept for future tourists to admire but the way he did it was... well, a little shady. I told the guide later that my son needed a better explanation as to why he couldn't just hang on to it and this picture is him explaining how he'll give Erik the credit when he shows it to his other tour groups. When he retires though, I wonder if it'll wind up on his shelf... Such a fun day hiking around and looking at the history of the area. The day was perfect and my hubby got to go. We loved it. I want to go back again sometime. I guess there's a law suit going on right now between the landowners in the area who have people driving in there through their easements and the state parks and historical societies who bring in the tours. I hope this is not the end of seeing this beautiful spot.