Camp 2018 - Hikes

This year, Rebecca took the bigs on the traditional Owl's Head Mountain hike. The littles were too big for me to carry and we were confident that they would not have done well, so I decided to stay back with them and go fishing.

The three adventurers were full of energy and raring to go!

And go they did! They made it up in a couple of hours, had lunch, and hung out at the top for a while.

Mama even got some time to relax. 

Of course, there was the obligatory climb to the top of the fire tower...

And the view of Lake Eaton from there...

It was a warm day and the kids were happy to jump in the lake while waiting for their ride to come get them.

We also found something new this year. There's something called the Tupper Lake Triad, which is a challenge to climb 3 peaks around Tupper Lake. We did all three in one day!

First we did Coney Mountain, which was a fairly short 1.1 mile hike to the top. 

Then we moved closer to Tupper Lake and did Goodman Mountain. It was a little longer at 1.7 miles, but still not too bad, especially because the first half was on an old section of Route 9, the main road between Long Lake and Tupper Lake. When they rebuilt the road a few decades ago, they abandoned this one. 

The last one was Mount Arab, on the north side of Tupper Lake. It was very short, but more of a vertical climb. I stayed down on this one because we were taking the opportunity to do laundry in Tupper and wanted to make sure it was done in time. 

This one had a ranger cabin and fire tower at the top, similar to Owl's Head, so they got some great views of Tupper Lake and the surrounding area.

The kids all did a great job keeping positive attitudes and walking the whole way on their own! Next time we go up, we will definitely have to do these peaks again!

Lake Higgins Hike

With Rebecca's birthday this weekend, I asked her what she wanted to do and her answer? Spend time together on some hikes. She picked two hikes: one along Lake Higgins, north of Greensboro and the other at Stone Mountain State Park. 

We did the Lake Higgins hike first as a warm-up for Stone Mountain. We knew this was a longer hike, but it's flat and easy, so I gave the kids some walking sticks and we set out.

Along the way, they found some sand that had been washed up by a stream that was running low because of the lack of rain. 

The stream bed had a walkway/bridge over it that each of the kids took turn jumping from.

Lake Higgins is a beautiful lake to walk along, with gorgeous views

 and little places to get right up to water and play.

The hike was a total of 9.5 miles and we figured out that kids are good for about 8. They got tired and whiny for the last couple of miles, but they all made it on their own two feet. :)

On the Way to the Beach

We took a mid-week trip to the beach to get away, try out our new (to us) camper, and to do some hands-on stuff that goes along with the curriculum that the boys have been doing for the past few months. They've been doing a WinterPromise curriculum called Sea & Sky, which chronicles the history and science of sailing and flying from the Ancient World to the exploration of space. In parallel, they've been doing Apologia's Swimming Creatures science, so they've been learning about all manner of sea creatures.

We found an RV park near Holden Beach for a good price, loaded up and headed out. It's a 3 1/2-hour drive down, so to break it up, I found a place to stop and get the kids out to walk around. Lake Waccamaw was right on our route down there, so we went to the state park there. The warnings from the Ranger there included: "Keep the kids close. The 'gators are out." Riiight... Let's go!

The lake is the largest natural fresh-water lake in North Carolina and is home to a large number of animals that are found nowhere else, though the vast majority of them are particular species of snails, mollusks and that sort of thing. It's also home to the largest population of the American alligator this far north. We got a map and decided to take a walk along a trail and see if we could spot one or two...

There were huge pinecones...

flowering cacti...

Spanish moss...

dragonflies...

lizards...

and some cool-looking dead trees, but no alligators that we could see on our walk.

At this point a storm started to roll in across the lake, so we hustled it back to the car and headed on our way.

Colorado 2014 - Alderfer/Three Sisters Park

While we tried to do different things on our trip this year, we did do a few things that we just absolutely love like Castlewood Canyon and Alderfer/Three Sisters Park. This year, we took the Deering kids and the Ginsberg family with us and had a great time.

 The Three Sisters

 This year, we climber to the top of the Brother, which is a little bit away from the Three Sisters and not quite as tall.

 The wildflowers were so pretty.

 Rebecca tried to climb a Sister, but it's not easy to do with a passenger.

 The view from the top of one of the Sisters.

 Olivia and I both made it up.

 Emma was happy to just be out of the carrier and sitting on the rocks.

A wonderful hike on a wonderful day with wonderful friends. That's why we go out there whenever we can. :)