Hike

Hike 7- Xmas Break Day Unknown

, , , , 2 Comments

I was determined to take a hike today. The weather was going to be in the fifties, and after the sub-sub-zero temps last week, I needed to take advantage. Unfortunately, the day got away from us, and we were running out of daylight. I felt some pressure because it is Kareem’s last day off of the break, and life is about to get pretty real on us. So it felt very important to get out there, and we rushed to get out the door.

I don’t really know how it happened, but we decided to take both dogs AND all the kids with us. Kareem didn’t think we could all fit in the car, but lo and behold- we made it work! I knew because I frequently take both dogs. Kareem does not. The kids were excited to go hiking with both dogs!

Because of the weather we have been having, it would be a muddy mess out there, so we needed somewhere paved. And then because of the time of day, we needed somewhere close. So we chose Busch Wildlife and the Fallen Oak Trail.

It was an absolute treat! The sun going down gave us a glowing golden orange. The wind treated us to creaking and clacking tree sounds, which left the kids in wonder. It was beautiful.

It was fun to bring the whole family. I take the dogs frequently together, just me and them. Jam town insisted on walking Jeff, and Marge gave Kareem a run for his money- literally, Kareem was running! 😀

It looks how it felt.

Marge was very reluctant to cross the wooden bridge. She doesn’t like narrow spaces. But she ended up doing it! The kids wanted to take the “shortcut” with the steps up through the woods. They had to cross over a couple fallen trees, so I knew Marge wouldn’t do it. Kareem took Marge the regular way, and I tromped through the woods with the kids.

Bear town brought her basket to forage for fairy finds, like leaves and mushrooms. She is working on a fairy house.

We saw the sun set and the moon rise- a beautiful late winter afternoon.

Trail Info:

This trail is short but mighty. It provides lots of habitat for wildlife, and there is a bird blind there which my kids and scouts love. There are informative plaques about the flora of the forest it winds through. Conveniently, it is paved. It is right by the visitor center. There is a pavilion and many picnic tables and some fire pits as well. It’s really great for something quick and/or for families and people who are looking for something short but with a lot of bang for their buck.

Goal Recap 2022

, , 0 Comments

I read this the other day- or something similar- Not hitting the goal doesn’t mean you didn’t win.

I absolutely have pretty much always lived by this. It’s not win or lose, it’s win and/or learn always. This year was unique by a mile. And we did not hit all of our hiking goals for this past year. But we still did some amazing things in our hiking world.

One of our goals was to hike out west. For spring break, most of us went on a trip out to New Mexico. One of my favorite trips of all time! This trip involved a TON of hiking. And some really gorgeous and special hikes for our family.

Another goal was to hike in every state that borders Missouri. If you aren’t aware, Missouri has the most states that border it in the union! We did Kansas, Oklahoma, and Illinois and that was it. Not a great showing.

We did not hike Taum Sauk this year and we did not do any backpacking. Both of these I had thought were low hanging fruit.

One hike per week is what we averaged, but it didn’t actually go one per week. So sort of yes, sort of no.

All in all, I learned a ton this year. We had a lot going on this year. I know everybody does, but one thing that was unique was that both Kareem and I had big professional shifts that had big repercussions for how we were able to spend our time outside of work. The world also opened up, and our kids are getting older. We had more social and extracurricular obligations. We learned a lot about balance.

Not hitting all our goals though didn’t mean we didn’t have some major wins in our hiking world. I did a couple challenges, and in the fall, I was able to really do a lot more hiking than I had up until that point.

Another thing I definitely learned was how much I truly value hiking. I missed it. We bond so much as a couple and as a family during our regular hikes. And I personally gain so much from it as an individual. I am looking forward to a new year- the kids have some great ideas for hiking goals this year! I am hoping to blog more about it this year (as I say every year), but I am not sure how much- every hike, some hikes, a monthly recap? If you have ideas, let me know!

Float with Kids in Missouri

, , 0 Comments

**This post has been in draft since August. Thought about saving it, but I’m just going to go ahead and finish it and put it out there.**

We finally were able to check float off our summer bucket list just in time for school to start!

We floated in the Lesterville area on the Black River with Horseshoe Ranch Campground and Floats. They’re a small operation that is family-oriented, which we appreciated. We went on a Sunday and our exposure to drunk, young floaters was minimal. We did not camp the night before or the night of which is an unusual choice. The place we went through does offer camping and most float outfitters do. I think next year we will camp.

We did a six man raft, which was perfect for us. The raft is the least tippable option and while we did lose a few people after an unfortunate run in with a tree stump and Kareem lost his sunglasses, ultimately, we did pretty good.

When we hit that stump, Nick, Rami, and Kareem went flying out the raft. I did not notice because I was trying to stabilize until Nick yelled. I was able to get Nick to grab my oar, but Rami and Kareem were getting swept down. The river is not that deep, so I was telling Rami to touch the bottom. He was getting panicky, so finally I yelled in a deep voice RAMI SWIM TOWARDS THE SHORE AND TOUCH THE BOTTOM. He reacted to that. He had a hard time touching because of the current, but he got there. He did immediately swim sideways which helped a lot more than trying to swim back to me against the current. Then we tried to get Kareem. I was having trouble getting the raft to the side of the river, and I thought for a minute, well we are going to totally leave Kareem and Rami here! But I managed it and I felt very proud. At this point, I noticed another family down from us a little ways. They clapped for us, ha ha. They were in canoes and apparently had gotten it much worse through that point. But we all made it, and it was a fun story to tell later.

Jimmy fell out once, but it was at a slow part and we immediately grabbed him and plucked him out the river and back into the raft. Here he is post incident. Clearly very bothered by the whole situation.

Part of the fun of floating is the people you meet.

The Black River is definitely one of the best rivers in Missouri to float, though we are not without lots and lots of options here in our gorgeous, floatable state. We drug once which is not bad for this time of year.

The Black River is so clear with a rocky bottom! Very typical of the area. Very swimmable. Gorgeous scenery everywhere you look.

I will admit, though I am super adventurous, I was slightly nervous to take four kids and a dude who has floated once or twice as a young man on one of those kinds of floats we were trying to avoid. But we were safe and the kids had a blast. Properly fitting PFDs are an absolute must. We own ours because we do spend a lot of time in and around water with our children. It’s an investment worth making!

I was slightly concerned about the weather. They weren’t calling for rain or storms, but you know you can feel it coming. And I just felt a pop up storm coming. You can see that high cloud there int he above picture. It rained very lightly just for maybe ten minutes while we were out- it was absolutely spectacular. I was worried we might have thunder and lightening- we did, but not until we were out of the river.

It was really cool to see the kids step up and help, and you could tell they felt more and more confident as the day went on.

Beginning and before Kareem lost his sunglasses
The end- no sunglasses, but feeling proud!

We pulled out, the bus pulled up, and we all piled in. Moments later, thunder cracked, the sky opened up, and we were being driven like a bat out of hell down the dirt road on the side of that mountain. My kids (and I) did NOT enjoy this part at all. Lucy was crying, Nicky was praying, and I was doing some kind of holy mix of cussing and laughing while trying to remain calm for the kids.

We got back in one piece but definitely changed after that bus ride! We started home after that, and of course, everybody immediately fell asleep in the car.

All we wanted to do after this float trip was. book another one! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go again last year, but we are already talking about where we’re floating next summer!

Solo Hiking, Travel, and Selfies

, 0 Comments

**post warning: lots of pictures of ME in this post**

I used to hate selfies.

I thought they were dumb. This may really surprise you, since I now not only post tons of selfies both solo and with a group, but I also own a selfie stick. It was a gift, but an inspired one.

I didn’t really develop any selfie game until I was on my own a lot. I wasn’t yet a single mom, but my ex-husband was traveling a lot, and I was alone with the kids a lot. And I began taking pics of us via selfie. I’d love for my kids to know that mom was there too. 🙂 Once I was a single mom, then it was on. I also did a lot of solo travel and solo hiking at this time, so I would take selfies to document my travels.

Looking back at travel photos, I had tons of pictures of artifacts in museums or gorgeous landscapes, but my mom would be like, where are you? And I was like, she’s right! When I look at friends’ photos of trips and things, I’m looking for pictures of them, not of stuff I could go see myself. So I started taking more pics with me in it.

I also sometimes am somewhere by myself and see something weird and I’m like, okay I need photographic proof that me and this thing were in contact! 😀

I have had largely positive experiences with solo hiking and solo travel, though I have to say that in the past year, I have had a couple weird solo hiking experiences that have made me even more safety conscious.

I always advise that you bring the ten essentials on every hike you take. Recently, I was on a hike with another family and a kid scraped their knee. I left my pack in my car because it was only like a two mile hike. I never do this, but I did it. I wish I had my things! It’s always best to be prepared. And when you’re solo, it’s even more important.

I love solo travel. I’ve done domestic and international travel by myself and I enjoy it. Not too long after I got divorced, I went on a trip to Iceland, Wales, and England solo in summer of 2018. Often when I plan these solo trips, people will offer to come with me or come with for part of it. I declined these offers for this particular, mostly because I had already made my plans, gotten my tickets, etc and didn’t want to change plans around or cause undue cost to my potential travel partner. But I also knew that I would learn a lot doing this trip by myself, given what I had been through. Being completely by myself and responsible for myself on a trip like this teaches you a lot about yourself. And it reminded me of my own value and strength. I had a really great trip solo. I was able to be very flexible. After a particularly difficult hike climbing a mountain, I changed my plans and left Wales early and included a new stop in England. I also met some really cool people which I may not have been as open to had I been with others. Had a great trip!

Solo hiking is a little different. I don’t usually want to meet cool people on a solo hike, ha ha. I go for the solitude, peace and quiet, or I’m looking for something in particular. For whatever reason, I feel more cautious hiking solo than traveling solo. Not sure why. But I will say that I have had more negative experiences solo hiking than solo traveling. Being aware of your surroundings is very important in both settings. Choose your trails wisely. Let someone know where you’re going. Here are some of my tips for solo hikes.

At this point in my life, solo travel is not something I do often. I try to plan all of my trips with my kids. If I’m going to spend the money, I want them to come with me! And I’m remarried, so the kids can’t come, then the husband will! And I love it this way. But solo hiking does still happen. Or hiking with my non-human hiking buddy Jeff. He’s a pretty good pal. 🙂

I’m also totally open to hiking pals if you want to be one! Requirements- can’t be in a hurry and must appreciate really cool rocks. Litterbugs need not apply. 🙂

Fall Hiking

0 Comments

Fall. Is. Here!

No doubt about it- the air is getting crisp and this weekend I noticed the leaves beginning to change. I love me some summer, but I welcome the gorgeous changes fall brings. This fall, honestly, I’m a little bummed. I have some obligations that have changed around my custody schedule and we don’t have the kids at the same time so our events and calendar have been bumbled around. It’s something that can be hard to adjust to- do we do the thing with just the one child, just the three children, and/or the things we typically do on our own we won’t do because we don’t want to give up a moment with any of the kids. It’s a balancing act and this fall, it feels like there’s no balance.

BUT! There is still hiking, of course. Fall hiking can be the best- some of those nasty bugs are gone, the trees put on quite a show, and the weather is perfect.

I have in the past published some detailed hikes for the fall season- some of my favorite hikes- and you can find them here:

Ha Ha Tonka

Starved Rock

Taum Sauk

World Bird Sanctuary

A few more recommendations that I haven’t fully written up but have lots of opinions on:

Elephant Rocks– the famous state park in Iron County, MO. The giant granite boulders are spectacular any time of year, but the foliage around here is incredible in the fall and the views of the surrounding St. Francois mountains blanketed in oranges and yellows make it even more glorious.

Cuivre River– Close to home, this state park in Troy, MO is like a taste of the Ozarks near St. Louis with those dolomite glades, bluffs, and rivers running through it all. There’s even a lake with a trail around it- beautiful foliage!

Pere Marquette– You wanna talk about bluffs? Let’s talk about Pere Marquette. We always get up there in January for the eagle sightings and festivities, but this Illinois state park is worth the drive in the fall. Take the ferry over, enjoy the sights and sounds, and end with a river-side meal for a fabulous day trip.

Johnson Shut Ins– not just for summer fun, you know! This Black River shut in is breathtaking in the fall, surrounded by an incredible show the old hills put on.

Let me know where your fall hiking takes you and be on the look out for some fall hike write ups from me! Our hiking year ends on Thanksgiving, so I will publish our hiking year recap then as well!

< 1 2 3 4 5 >»