This is the view from the trail to the summit of Mt. Roberts, in Moultonborough, New Hampshire. That huge lake is Winnipesaukee – at its bluest. My friend and I climbed this peak recently on a hot day, which, for  a cold weather girl like me, made the experience a lot more difficult. It’s 2 1/2 miles each way, and we were on the trail for 4 1/2 hours with a couple of short breaks.

The trail was varied, with some shady stretches, but a lot of it was like this: typical rocky NH. Some people run these, but I have no idea how they do it. The footing can be very tricky.

The trail is owned and maintained by the Lakes Region Conservation Trust, which has done an excellent job. The red-orange  blazes are well-placed and easy to follow, and we didn’t see a speck of trash.

When we had reached a decent elevation, probably about 1,500 feet or so, we suddenly started seeing vivid spots of orange among the low-growing blueberries: wild lilies.

Like  other plants that grow high on mountains, they were much shorter than their flatland cousins, only a few inches high. Below is a close-up so you can see how pretty they are.

We also saw some lovely harebells, members of the campanula family. They prefer more sheltered, partly-shaded conditions.

But we humans are never alone in the wilderness. At the summit, we heard several warblers and white throated sparrows. I saw a large pile of moose droppings, and then, smack in the middle of the trail, we came upon this: indisputable proof that bears do s**t in the woods.

This scat was at about a day old. We did not encounter any black bears, but this was a graphic reminder that they’re out there.