Week 18: #52HikeChallenge-- End of the Road

We got a week behind in our 52 Hike Challenge because we had some weather, sickness, and family busyness take over the last couple weeks.  We still got out for walks here and there, but we wanted to only resort to counting those as our weekly hike a few times not make it a norm.  So we walked, but vowed to still get out for some actual family hikes to make up for the couple weeks where we only got out for a brief walk or two.  

And the hike we went on the day before Mother's Day should really count for two hikes anyway.  We hiked the last segment of the East/West Trail and it was a long segment.  Just over 7 1/2 miles.  We pretty much figure that it's a good rule of thumb to keep our distance to the age of the youngest hiker. Ava is 4.  Her birthday is in October, so let's be generous and say 5--so 5 miles.  

 

 

We went 2 1/2 miles further than that.  We went the distance of our oldest kid hiker's age.  And they all rocked it.  

Sure, there was some complaining at points and Chris and I had some extra work pumping them up and keeping them motivated throughout the long hike, but they did it and they did it with less whining than some of the 2 mile hikes we have done in the past.  Every day is a new day, every hike is a new hike.  Some days the kids respond better to the encouragement, some days they struggle more.  Lucky for us, the day we chose this very long hike for kids, they were having one of their best days and despite their weariness, they pressed on.  

  

 

And honestly, though it was long and quite warm and we were all tired and sweaty, we had a lot of fun together.  We looked for wildflowers.  Those sweet little white ones in the picture above were my favorites of this hike.  Kayla liked the purple ones in the picture below.  

 

We discussed lots of family memories.  Chris and I told the girls a bunch of stories from when each of them were little and the things they did and said that made us laugh.  The girls kept asking questions about themselves as babies and wanted to know all the things.  I love the little twinkle they get in their eyes and the huge grin when we tell them about themselves and the funny things they did when they were younger.  

One of the fun (and crazy!) distractions was that we spotted an ostrich running around in the distance.  We walked past a ranch of some sort and the only living thing we spotted on the property was an ostrich running back and forth, back and forth.  But the kids love looking for the ostrich (the black dot most of the time) on the ridge running to and fro.  Check out the video and you can see the craziness too.  :)

There we are at the end of the East/West Trail going east!

All in all with the spurs and extras, hiking the East/West Trail out and back in segments was probably a 25 mile family endeavor.  Way to go, Team!!!

We knew from the beginning, of course, that this segment would be a fairly long hike so we brought along crackers and fruit snacks to distribute here and there along the way.  Every couple miles, the girls each got a fruit snack and in between the snacks, we filled the time with fun together chatting, encouraging, counting our blessings, sharing our memories, and looking for wildlife.  God is good and these hikes have definitely been a fun way to spend time in God's creation and growing closer as a family.