Saturday Morning Family Hike – Hawn State Park

You know it’s going to be a good day when you roll over in bed and ask your husband to take a hike with you and the kids that morning before he goes to work, and his response is “yes!” So 30 minutes later, the 6 of us (Yukon came too) were headed towards Hawn State Park!

Many you may have noticed that a lot of our adventures we’ve posted so far, don’t involve my family, but getting them outside of the house and their “normal” is very important to me. I hope for them to develop an appreciation of our world like my parents taught me. It’s just with Enrique’s crazy work hours, it makes it difficult to get out and do family outings. So whenever we find the time, I jump on the chance, like this morning.

Caroline and I had scouted out the Pickle Creek to Whispering Pines Trail earlier in the week for a future beginner’s hike (Check it out here), so I thought it would be good to test just how the boys handled it. Armed with a trekking pole each, we let Tanner and August lead the way, while Enrique had the honor of carrying Oakley, and I let Yukon DRAG me along!

To say they seemed to love it would be an understatement. Unlike many of the trails I’ve taken them on, this one has a lot more “obstacles” to keep them on their toes. The path is scattered with rocks, many large enough you have to actually climb over. And every time they saw an opportunity to jump on the rocks back and forth across Pickle Creek, they took it! Knowing my new obsession of taking pictures for this blog, they were more than willing to point overy EVERY spot they thought deserved a picture!

The most exciting part of the trip was when August last traction on a large slippery rock and he slid on his bottom down straight into the creek. He was not amused to say the least, but we all got a good chuckle out of it!!

I enjoyed listening to Enrique’s grunts and groans while telling Oakley repeatedly that he was heavy. My inner hiking goddess was smiling knowing that he didn’t find hauling the baby around, resulting in him having a greater appreciation of my abilities to do so. Honestly, I think carrying Oakley on my back was less challenging than trying to restrain my beast of a husky from literally pulling me off my feet and taking off with me!

In the end, this trail was perfect for my 12 and 9 year olds. It was just long enough without being too much (around 2 miles) and there were enough rock, creek, and fallen tree obstacles to keep them on their toes and interest piqued. We even had time to let little Oakes run around and stretch out his legs on the playground close to the parking lot afterwards.

I recently “liked” a page on Facebook called “Almost Fearless” which is geared towards providing outdoor activities and adventures for kids. Today they asked the questions: “What kind of childhood do you want your kids to have? Do you want to show them the world, instill a deep appreciation for the outdoors, explore, adventure, and stay active together?” And I had another one of the “moments.” Yes I do! So even though I do a lot with my kids, I plan on doing more and sharing them with you. I will be the first to admit that I’m not “Mom of the Year” and many times I leave the kids at home because I just need that me time, which is usually one of these adventures you see me take. But I also realize that we only have this one lifetime with them and I need to create the memories with them that my folks did for me.

So what kind of childhood would you like your kids to have?

And if you’re curious why I chose the word “furry” in my title…have you ever seen my wooly Siberian Husky?? The fur was a-flying today while he drug me through the woods!