With the end of school came the end of Music Makers, our weekly gathering of moms and kids to learn songs and poems and play games and read stories around a certain theme each month. At our last few meetings, some of the moms mentioned options for filling in the summer gap with park dates or beach meetups. I spoke up (brave of me, yes!) and offered to lead a kid-friendly hike each week for anyone interested. I also sent out an email to the group and talked to a few other friends who weren't Music Makers attendees, and before I knew it I had a list of 23 moms who said they'd like to be notified of my weekly excursions. Wow! I figured that I wanted to get out some mornings with my kids to tromp some trails, and inspired by the Wasatch Little Explorers Club that I have been following on instagram for a few months, I decided that hiking with friends could be more fun for all of us. And it has been.
Each week, I choose a new trail and send out the details and directions to the group. We meet Wednesday mornings at 9:30 (same time as Music Makers was, though if I had my druthers we'd go a lot earlier to avoid the heat . . . compromises) and walk as far as the kids' legs or moms' patience holds up. Usually there's something fun to see/do on the trail, like a bridge or a stream or big rocks or a lake, which helps a lot with excitement level for the kids. We've had at least a couple other moms with double or more that number of kids join us each week, and it's been a great little perk for us to look forward to every Wednesday.
7 June 2017: Art Nord Trailhead
Hikers: Callie, Sam, Kim, Charlie, Preston, Treasa, Arta, Gideon, Lewis, Brenley, Theodore, Bennett, Emmeline, Ashley, Logan?, Savannah
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| Playing pooh sticks at the bridge was definitely the highlight of this hike. |
Hikers: Callie, Sam, Kim, Jarreth, Jaden, Charlie, Preston, Treasa, three brothers I didn't catch names of, Marlene
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| She was pretending something about a hotel I think? |
(Bonus!) 14 June 2017: Birdsong Trail
Hikers: Callie, Sam, Kim (This wasn't an official meetup - it was more of a scouting mission for a future hike, since we were passing by on our way home from the hike we had just completed above.)
bonus video!
22 June 2017: Ogden Nature Center
Hikers: Callie, Sam, Kim, Zachary, Timothy, Christine (This also wasn't an official meetup, but I'm including it here because a) we didn't have a Wednesday morning hike with friends due to our Elwood Family Staycation at the beginning of this week, and b) it was a fun get together with friends that included hiking, so I feel like it still fits even if it happened on Thursday and I didn't send out a huge group text inviting everyone to join us.)
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| Cal brought her camera along on this adventure and snapped a ton of pictures of the cool birdhouses along the birdhouse trail leading to the visitor's center. |
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| Just to remind me that I want to check this book out someday - it was on display in the visitor's center and looks interesting and informative. |
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| Checking out the birds of prey exhibit. |
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| Exploring the bear den. |
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| Holding hands! |
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| The observation towers were a big hit - getting up high for a birds' eye view of the land and marshes. |
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| Loved this sign in the visitor's center - I gotta remember these! |
Hikers: Callie, Sam, Kim, McKenna, Maya, Morgan, Miles, Caralee, Summit?, another brother whose name I don't know, Eden, Arta, Gideon, Lewis, Brenley, Gavin, Elon, Lindsay, Charlie, Preston, Treasa
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| This bench and "waterfall" (not pictured) were a great pit stop point along the trail. |
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| We made it to the top! This was our longest hike yet. |
I think that's so great that you've been organizing this. I wish I lived closer (and that Grace's naps were more predictable) so we could come too. Maybe next summer. :)
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