My girlfriend, Michele, and I decided to roadtrip and take the kids on a nature hike/creek stomp at Versailles State Park. We have aspirations of conquering one state park a week throughout the summer. We had planned on a nice short easy hike before lunch. Then we would bump up to the moderate trail after we had eaten.... The map was not the best and the trail was not marked very well (translation- the moms had trouble reading the map and we go lost) and five miles later we had conquered a moderate trail and looped our original easy trail. Talk about working up an appetite! The kids were troopers and loved hiking the creek bed.
The weather was perfect and we had a great time. We saw lots of frogs, bugs, a racoon and of course tons of fossils in the creek bed. Michael found a clavicle of some sort of animal. Everyone had a great time. Timothy, my nephew, says a quarter mile into the hike- "Where are we going?" I told him nowhere- just hiking... He was not really too impressed with that response.
The key to happy hiking with the 4-7 year old scene is to have eveyone carry their own backpack with water shoes, a water bottle, and any treasures they find. Oh and add DEET bug spray and someone who can read the trail map!
Speaking of great backpacks...
A picture of the little backback I made for bootcamp- because even if you are breathing so hard you can barely stand up you may as well get your cute on right? This drawstring backpack is just the right size for all that running we have to do from the Y to the track and the other "fresh air runs." It has a little pocket for a phone~ yes, you need a phone at bootcamp to call for help when you are lying on the side of the road dying from exhaustion.... and of course a key fob so you don't loose the keys on the run and have to walk home. This bag is the perfect size for a water bottle, bee sting kit, and sweat towel. And it did really well on the hiking too.
