Thirty-five years ago when we first introduced our children to trekking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, our youngest son was firm about his intention; which was to complete a destination once begun.

In other words if we set off to do a circuit, the circuit should be completed, for maximum satisfaction and to ensure we missed nothing. If we set off to achieve an ascent, we should continue until we did just that, regardless of the effort and time involved. And for the most part, we did just that.

This time, however, we had our granddaughter with us, and her enthusiasm for completing a trek was rather lukewarm at best. And since we are 35 years older than we were when our youngest son was her age, we aren't completely averse to halting an ascent when we're getting rather weary of the effort.

The last time we decided to do the Drakes Brook trail in the Waterville Valley was years ago. And it had been in the early spring, a very wet spring at that. We had made our way on the trail to the point where you are required to cross over the brook to get to the opposite side, where the trail rises moderately-to-steeply, until the Drakes Brook falls are reached. That last time there was no way we could conceivably cross; all the boulders in the brook we were meant to step upon to achieve the crossing were well under water, water that was moving swiftly and deeply. So we had turned back, disappointed.

This time we were there in mid-July, and the water level was markedly down; no problem crossing over the brook to the opposite side, clambering up the stones helpfully placed to form 'steps', then proceeding upward to the falls, which we knew from experience, would be dry and fairly unspectacular. We knew that we were a literal stone's throw from the falls when our granddaughter suggested, why continue?

Since we were tired, and not surprisingly so, since one of us was carrying our 19-year-old miniature poodle for whom it was simply too much of a physical struggle to continue on her own, we acquiesced, and turned back. The trail itself is quite beautiful, and we were glad we had the opportunity to take it again after so many years. There are areas where it becomes quite boggy and a few bypasses are required, but it's well worth the effort.

We didn't feel we missed much, opting to turn back before getting to the falls. We'd passed another hiker returning from the falls whose comment about the paucity of water falling over it was anything but spectacular we had taken note of.