the Boys Hike With Mom

Usually Daddy gets to do all the fun things with the boys, but not yesterday. I told my two remaining boys I'd take them hiking anywhere within an hour's drive. They chose Pine Log Creek Trail, just up 140, and I thought it was a great choice.

When we arrived, we were the only ones there. That was part of the charm of not going to a State Park… let’s be one of a few rather than one of many.  Good thing we were alone, too, because, I had drunk a lot of liquid that morning and there was no civilized way to take care of the excess accumulation.  Fortunately I remembered what my sister taught me to do in such cases and all was well. 

We had done this trail before with everyone in our family, but it was much different without a child who is afraid of falling off switchbacks and cliffs, two children who were determined to wet a tree--despite the lack of excess accumulation, and a baby who was fast approaching the end of pleasantness.  The main difference was our speed.  I convinced the boys we needed to get to the quarry, a mere two miles down the trail.  I’m really, really glad it was worth the hike, for hike we did.  Up hills and up more hills and up some more.  If we went down ever, it was a fuzzy memory.  The trails and view were beautiful, and this hike may be my local favorite.

The quarry pond is beautiful and just begged us to jump in.  Seeing that it’s only April and we were not properly dressed in wetsuits, we declined, but we’ll certainly remember its cool inviting waters come July.  At the quarry’s edge we stopped to snack, and I thought I had seen a bagel in Ben’s backpack.  I hadn’t eaten breakfast, so I figured I’d nibble on it.  But it wasn’t a bagel; it was hard, stale bread.  How a piece of bread came to be in Ben’s hiking-only backpack was a mystery, but what to do with it wasn’t.  We broke off crumbs and threw them to the fish, to the delight of both fish and young boys.  Once the bread was gone, they tried fruit snacks, bits of granola, and apple chunks. 

 

After exhausting our snack supply and convincing Ben that no, there was no other way back to the car, and yes, he would need to walk, we headed back.   We stopped at the big river for about ten minutes so the boys could rest their weary bodies by scrambling over rocks and throwing things in the water.

Once we conquered the last two hills, we again rested for the sake of Ben.  He is woefully out of shape, and he dragged his walking stick in the dirt for the last mile of the hike.  Nathaniel, on the other hand, is a natural born trail runner with a limitless supply of energy.  He could probably have gone another three miles without difficulty.  He can be my running partner when I go back and run these trails.  Can’t wait!

The above photos were not taken by me, by the way.  I did take some on my phone, but do you really want to see fuzzy pictures of the red and black striped roly bug, the fish grabbing breadcrumbs, or even fuzzy pictures of the quarry when the ones I found at http://www.campnpost.com/ were much better. If you’re a local and want details about this hike, go there and type “Pine Log Creek Trail” in their search engine.