![]() On our way down, hikers heading up seemed enamored with my daughter. Once rested, she was ready to explore the summit, where the three of us enjoyed our lunch together on the rocks, taking in the view. Wrecked with exhaustion, she plopped herself on the floor of the castle and took a few minutes to herself dutifully completing her scavenger hunt counts. Without the scavenger hunt and M&Ms, I doubt we would have gotten her to the top and back.įinally at the top, we all loved the stone tower (a castle, according to my daughter). Every mile, I dished out a set amount of M&Ms, then awarded her with the rest of the bag after the hike. As an added incentive, I implemented advice from a hiker friend with daughters older than mine – bribery is best at that age… mileage in exchange for M&Ms. 7 gigantic piles of horse poop (wasn’t on the scavenger hunt my husband just wanted to count them).13 dogs climbing the mountain, including 3 that were bigger than me.22 different types of flowers (we think).At the suggestion of a co-worker, I created a two page scavenger hunt, complete with images we would see on the hike (including the stone tower at the summit) and things she would have to count along the way. Knowing in advance 7 miles would be a lot on a 5 year old, I needed to be creative in keeping her engaged. Once the rain stopped and as the day grew later, this trail became super crowded, including a surprising number of trail runners. For that first leg, we mostly had the calm, peaceful trail to ourselves. The up side to hiking in the steady rain for 20 minutes (even without rain gear) was that few other hikers cared to join in the fun. Finishing up our coffee in the SUV’s tailgate, staring numbly at the rain, we finally decided to just go for it. None of us were prepared with rain gear the weather reports had all suggested sun for every day of hiking. ![]() Shortly after we pulled into the parking lot, the skies opened up. ![]() What could have been a complete disaster turned out to be a memorable, happy family event. Stone Tower on the summit in the distance ![]()
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