Tips for a successful trek

"Nature-tracker-scientist-explorers always need to hold hands, right Juniper?"

I have to admit, I was a little flummoxed about how to follow up that last "Fredericton Chronicles" post. It is not that the post was so dazzling and witty, but rather that I had so many pictures and stories to share.  This week was mostly just... well, a regular old week. The exception, however, was that Friday was a PD day, and I decided to take the kids on a  little hiking journey.  It was VERY successful, if I do say so myself.  This was not a new trek - it is the very same route I take all the time, between our house and Clark's office. It takes me about an hour to do. The kids have even both done it before, but always on bikes - I knew full well that walking would require some grit, determination, and time. But they did marvelously, had fun, and DIDN'T WHINE.  This was a big enough miracle that I thought I'd chronicle the adventure, if even for future reference for myself.

Tips for a successful trek:

1. Choose a beautiful day.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm all for hiking in all sorts of weather - the woods, for instance, when experienced in the rain, are magical.  But when you have a destination (and therefore a goal) in mind, ideal conditions certainly help.  In this case, it was sunny, cool (but not cold), with a nice little breeze to keep the mosquitos and black flies at bay.  I can't think of a better scenario.

This isn't a spectacular picture, but I didn't think I'd be able to get this wriggly inch worm on his string in focus, so I just had to post the somewhat successful results.

2. Relinquish Control. This is KEY.  At least for my kids.  It is very tempting to prepare everything, choose an ideal route, and take the kids along for the ride.  But that is not nearly as interesting for them as when they feel it is their journey.  How is this accomplished?  First, they have their own backpacks, in which they can pack whatever supplies they feel are necessary.  Sure - you can cleverly (and gently) guide the choices, intervening if things get too heavy, etc - but otherwise, this is their decision.  For Juniper and Linden, they each had their own snacks, and their own "nature-tracking" tools (mostly notebooks and writing implements).  THEN, on the hike itself, you let them call the shots.  If you come to a crossroad where either direction will suffice, you let them decide which route to take.  If they are hungry for a snack, they decide when and how many times to stop. I found myself biting my tongue on numerous occasions (ie, resisting the urge not to say, "but we JUST stopped for a snack! Let's keep moving!"), but it was worth the effort. 

Snack-break #1, on a "secret" rock

3. Walking Sticks are a Must.  It is not that walking sticks actually provide any real support for these young hikers, but both Juniper and Linden feel they are necessary.  It can become relatively annoying to have to continually search out the "perfect" stick, and to issue constant reminders about "stick safety" (and to narrowly avoid being whacked in the face a time or two), but I have come to learn that all these little annoyances are worth putting up with.  The walking stick makes the hiker, you see - and it is important to accept and embrace them.

Half-way through, with walking sticks in full swing

4. Plan some en route activities.  Certainly, the walk itself is the main activity.  But when there are other goals in mind, it keeps things way more interesting.  Sometimes, the goal is finding cool items, either for personal "nature collections", or for trade at the Nature Museum.  This time around, it was identifying trees and plants, and documenting the journey.  This will most certainly mean more stops, and a a leisurely pace, but if you've left yourself enough time, then there is no rush, right?

Juniper, full set of markers by her side, sketching a tree

Linden, tracing an oak leaf

Fungus big enough to sit on!

Linden stops to make a friend

5. Have exciting mid-trek destinations.  This is not as easy if it is a new trail, as you don't know what to expect.  But on a tried-and-true trail, it is important to have destinations other than the final one, to break the journey up a bit, and to keep things moving.  This time around, it was the pond underneath the bridge - a favourite spot anyway, but with the VERY big added bonus of being currently bursting with frogs:

Two of the dozens of little guys around the pond's edge

Poking the frogs with sticks and making them jump away

6. Having a mantra: I didn't realize this until the very end, but apparently it is important to have a mantra on reserve.  Juniper looked at me as we were nearing the playground at the end of the trek, and said "Guess what, mom?  My legs are hurting and I'm tired, but I didn't whine at all!  You know how I did that?  I kept repeating in my head: "don't whine, don't whine, don't whine", and it worked!"  I'll have to try that myself!

Other than our lovely little hike, the weekend was mostly spent at two destinations:  the Nature Museum (Saturday was the grand opening of their new exhibit, all about dinosaurs), and a street festival in Westboro:

Viewing the "gigantosaurus".  They had these tablets that you can move around to look at different parts of the the dinosaur bones, so you can see what they would have looked like with skin.  VERY cool.

Uncovering fossils buried in rock

Despite the very cold, windy conditions, the kids knew better than to turn town a snow cone

After watching an excellent troupe of hip hop street performers, Linden could no longer walk down the street or stand in line without busting some moves:

And that's a wrap!  See you next week!