It Was Bound To Happen

Among the wonderful flora and fauna we encountered at Lake Wilson was everyone's favorite: poison ivy.  Thankfully we have a great GP who gives us enough prescription refills to cover its inevitable passing through all of the kids.  Poor kid got it bad!

Leaves of three, let them be!

Hike #10 - Clark Trail at Lake Wilson

I had noticed Lake Wilson on a map of the city months ago and had wondered if there was anything there to explore.  Just this morning some friends tipped us off to the trail there, and because this 2.5 mile loop is so close to home we thought we would try something different.  We finished dinner, left the dishes on the table, and did our first sunset hike.  The late April evening weather was perfect for a windows down drive.

Lake Wilson was the original water supply for the city of Fayetteville, but has now been replaced by Beaver Lake.  Joe and Maxine Clark were conservation minded citizens who helped support the growth of the local trail system.  This is a great trail, and we cannot believe we did not even know it existed.

The lake is very pretty, and we were surprised at the number of other people out there on a Saturday evening hiking, fishing from boats and the shore, and swimming (against the rules, which we would never approve ;) ).  There is a nice pavilion with picnic tables at the trailhead.  This is one of the best marked trails that we have done yet. The three year old is obsessed with loudly pointing out every tree blaze, and he was not disappointed here.  There are some great rocks here that are begging us to come back when we have more time to explore.  One of the things I love about loop trails is that if you hike the opposite direction next time it is like exploring a whole new trail.  The last 3/4 mile was right along the bank as dusk was coming on, and it was perfect.  Another feather in the cap of Fayetteville.

One thing that may alter our hiking in the coming months is that the three-year-old is growing restless in the backpack.  Today his short little legs walked the first and last half mile.

Travel time from home: 15 minutes
Today's miles: 2.66
Remaining miles: 64.95

Hike #9 - Cub Scout Camp Out

We have done Cub Scouts for the past three years, and this year we have a pack that is very organized and active.  We have gotten very busy lately, and we have been considering cutting some activities from our schedule for the coming year.  Cub Scouts is one of the activities that will make the cut.

This weekend the pack did its first camp out of the year.  The pack had certain camping requirements they had to check off their list.  Hiking was not one of the major items, so we only got in 2/3 mile on an unnamed trail at Horseshoe Bend on Beaver Lake.

One unexpected plus: We love a good hole-in-the-wall restaurant.  On the way we passed Monte Ne Chicken which caught our eye.  When we got to the camp out, several people were talking about it and how good it was.  We have to make a special trip up there to eat sometime.


Travel time from home: 50 minutes
Today's miles: 0.68
Remaining miles: 67.61

Hike #8 - Withrow Springs (Part 2)

We are enough miles into our goal that the time has come to start doubling up on trails.  We had our first trip to Withrow Springs in January.  Like most parks though, it has more than one trail.  We went here today for the Dogwood Trail because we are in the last days of the dogwood bloom.  This was a pretty little trail, and by little we mean 2/3 of a mile.  As we came around the last turn and saw the van, we realized our kids had turned a corner in their hiking.  We had completed the trail in only twenty minutes, and the unanimous response from the kids was "That's all!"  We are proud to say that according to our kids any hike under three miles almost isn't worth their time.

So, we headed back to the War Eagle trail that we had done in January.  April though is a much better time for enjoying the swimming hole.  One of the nice things about four boys, is that swimming can be enjoyed even if you forget to bring suits.

Travel time from home: 35 minutes

Today's miles: 2.08

Remaining miles: 68.29

Stuff We Like - Keen Footwear

We are not big gear people.  The vast majority of our camping and hiking gear comes from garage sales.  The one thing that we have decided is worth buying is Keen shoes.

We have actually found several kids pairs at garage sales, but even if we have to pay full price to get them new, we will.  The love of Keen started with a pair I bought by chance as a sale at the mall.  They were waterproof, I loved them, and I wore them for five years.  I was so impressed that I bought the next pair at full price in my very first online shoe purchase.  I loved these too.  After about two years the heel broke on both of these shoes.  All Keens come with a one-year warranty, but since both shoes broke in the same way I submitted them for warranty to see what they would say.  They gave me gift certificate for the full price of the shoes!  The new pair I got lost their waterproofing right at the one year mark, and they warrantied these too.  I still wear these several times a week, and use my new pair when I will encounter water.  We now have them in kids sizes 7-2 and keep passing them down.  We must have at least 13 pairs in the house these days.  There are not many products of any kind that we have found to hold up so well through multiple kids.