With taking last weekend off and the weekend before that being an easy hike, we wanted to get back into the full swing of things by challenging ourselves on our first double-digit mileage hike since Katie broke her ankle. We've never hiked in Tolland during the summer before, so we thought we'd check the area of the East Portal out with quite a bit less snow.

We arrived at the parking lot a little before 9 and there was no parking in the actual lot. But this is a secluded area, so we parked alongside the road which only added about 1/4 mile to our trip. The hike started off great but the elevation quickly got to us. After making it above the tree line we were met with gorgeous fields of wildflowers and great views of the surrounding peaks. It gave us enough adrenaline to make it to the summit where we at our lunch at a very appropriate time - 10 after noon. Usually we're eating at the wrong time on our hikes based on when we need the fuel, but this one worked out perfectly.

The summit lake was gusty. The breeze was quite strong but then would suddenly die down before kicking up again. When the wind was blowing, it was cold and chilly, but that was perfect sine it's been a hot summer. Without the wind, it was quickly hot from the sun beating down on us.

This was a challenging hike. We're trying to get into shape to do a very challenging hike in a couple of weekends and since we've taken a few weeks off we didn't know how well we would handle this. We’re in better shape than we thought.