Spend a Springy Day in Sproul

I had marked Monday off from work, and my husband and I had talked about heading out on our third backpack trip of spring. But Sunday turned out to be sort of chilly and drab and gray, with passing flurries, and we didn't end up going anywhere overnight. So Monday's adventure became a one-day trip into the heart of Sproul.

We packed up a few things, grabbed a pair of Burger King whoppers on the way, and were shortly on our way into the woods. We didn't walk in to our Sproul backpack spot this time, as we'd just recently been there. Instead, we hiked in to a big spring that we know in the middle of the woods, and drank deeply of the cold, clear water.

We went past that, though. Further on down, heading into the valleys of the Susquehanna. Years and years ago, my husband and I did a 12-mile hike in this area that took us all the way down to the river and back, and it just about broke us. On this day, we did a mere 6 miles, but that turned out to be plenty too!

On our way back up the hill, we stopped by the little vernal pool that, when frozen, back in January, provided an excellent sliding surface for Tiny Tiger's big ice adventure (you may see him sliding in the extras to a prior blip-posting). On this day, there was no ice but there were some fine reflections. Surprisingly, there was no evidence at all of amphibians of any kind!

Tiny Tiger wasn't with us on this day to see that the ice had melted; he usually only goes along on over-nighters. But our pals Little Bear and Alex were traveling with us, and so they got to enjoy the day as well.

A very friendly (but quite small) spring azure butterfly came and walked all over my husband's hiking boots, and then it flew over and sat right down on Little Bear's butt! (Thus the term BUTTerfly, I guess.) You may see that photo - one of my very first butterfly pictures of the year - in the extras.

Little Bear kept his calm throughout, but he was actually a little taken aback by the whole thing. I mean, it was a butterfly and all. But still, it was a bug, and Little Bear was not sure he liked being walked on by a bug, no matter how pretty and friendly it might be.

The song for a spring day: Tori Amos, Spring Haze.