Hiking Adventures - Bucket List Check! - Alison Marie Photography

Bucket list check!! Yesssss!!

I’m proud to say I can now mark #10 — “Hike a Mountain” — as DONE on my bucket list! I’m taking all the small (or big!) victories life has to offer this year.

So I set out to hike a mountain. Like a serious hike. A hike that takes hours with an incredible view at the top. Well, I actually hiked TWO mountains within a weeks time. Boom!

Mount Willard – New Hampshire

This day went all wrong. But! When life hands you lemons…you hike with a backpack full of lemons, ha!

First up was Mount Willard in the White Mountains NH, which is 3.1 miles out and back. Mount Willard Trail is a relatively steep day hike in the White Mountains that rewards with incredible views of Crawford Notch and the surrounding range.

My photog bestie, Brooke and I planned on doing a styled shoot of a couple in the White Mountains amongst the Lupine… unfortunately, our models fell through, but we made the best of it with a hike and these incredible views!! Afterwards we took some “headshots” of one another, which was a bad idea since we were both so sweaty after hiking! Oh well, we had an adventure none the less, with some pretty amazing views, choice words and laughs along the way.

Mount Pisgah – Vermont

Mount Pisgah is a mountain in Westmore, Vermont. It is located on the east side of Lake Willoughby and constitutes the eastern side of the “Willoughby Gap.”

My family vacations at Willoughby Lake every year and this year was our 63rd year (My dad has been going since he was 5 years old). After the past year and a half, getting together and traditions mean more than ever. A sense of familiarity? Yes, please!

Since hiking a mountain was on my bucket list and we’d never done Mount Pisgah before, I was all for it!

11 of us did it, including my 2 kiddos. 4.8 miles up and over made it a toughy for sure (I had some pretty whiny kids at the end), but what a great reward at the top! I totally did not plan well because as we were hiking, I realized my camera battery was about to die and I forgot my phone. Ugh! Photographer fail!