Wilderness Excursion

For some times now I've been meaning to hike some trails at the Barfield Park. And when I say hike I mean HIKE!
I had never ventured to those trails before cause I was never sure where the trailheads started and never really felt pulled enough to stop at the Wilderness Station and ask. After stepping out for my weather test of the morning I thought it would be a perfect day for The Trails. We have had rain for, I swear, about 3 weeks but not this morning. This morning the sun was shining and the air was crisp. Fall is coming and man does it feel great!
We pull up to the playground area and I notice a small path leading up through the woods. Alright, we'll start here! Unload the kids, bike, stroller, snacks & camera and off we go. As soon as we are through the first veil of trees we start an uphill trek. The path curves and winds and I can't find the level ground I'm hoping for. Round & Round and Up we go. I am now at a 90 degree angle trying to push this stroller with Logan on my heels struggling to push his bike. He wants to stop and go back to put his back up but there is NO WAY I'm turning back now! We've covered such little ground but gone soooo far! Poor kid. This has turned into a lesson in endurance.

We FINALLY reach the top of Mnt. Summit and I do a small victory dance full of whoop whoops and take that's. Just a little one...no one is around for pete's sake! Theses are serious nature trails. None of this I'll take a little stroll down the greenway. We were up and down and around almost the whole time. Logan didn't even want to ride his bike. Plus I'm pretty sure I saw a No Bikes Allowed sign somewhere along the way. I'm guessing it's just for nature walks/runners.

After our victorious defeat B & I were taking in the scenes. Our moment was distured when I heard a Whomp! And then an Ahhh...HEY!! Logan had been collecting whole acorns from the ground and was apparently spotted by a squirrel trying to prepare for winter. Yeah, he threw an acorn at Logan's head. We dropped the acorns and scurried off but, I'm pretty sure we were being watched.
Then we noticed these little plaques all along the trail that told about many of the trees in the woods. It showed what kind of bark & leaf a certain one had. Well this was a scavenger hunt in the making and a pretty good lesson on nature while we were at it! Logan loved trying to identify the different trees by their leaves. Then he would have to find that leaf on the ground and store it in the stroller to take home. "This is like an awesome treasure hunt, " he exclaimed!

Our last stop was to the West Fork River overlook that was .5 miles from our You Are Here location. We pass more plaques, spiders, squirrels and falling leaves and finally make it. We parked the stroller/bike and hiked down to the river bank. There were small stone steps for this part. It was VERY muddy from the 3 weeks of rain but Big Brutha loved it and declared it him and his dad's new fishing spot. So it shall be.

Now remember our up-hill battle? Yeah, we gotta go back down. Imagine me, back arched, heels to the ground holding a stroller carrying a 22 lb. baby with one hand and trying to help Logan steady his bike with the other. I am sooo glad we went out early during a week day and no one could witness this. Although, that also means no one was there to witness my amazing multi-tasking skills! This all happened on Monday and my legs are just now feeling the wrath! Ohhhh the pain!

We did have a blast hiking through nature though. It's nice to get back to that quiet, peaceful one with the world feeling every once in a while. I'm hoping to instill that into the kiddos as well.
This is just a shot of B from My Point of View. She loves to kick back and relax in her stroller! Must be nice;)