South Bay

Family Hiking Milestone: 13 Miles at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

It's been four months, since our milestone hike:

13 MILES

with our toddlers.  I think I have emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually have come to grips with it.  Believe me this isn't our normal deal when we hike with our toddlers but we were meeting up with some Twitter Hiking All Stars: 

Russ Beebe ~ Winehiker Witiculture

Paulina Dao ~ Little Grunts

 and 

David Wherry ~ Hiker Adventures

.

Yes, it rain a few times in California this year.

My husband had been captive to his cubicle for a couple of weeks, so an 8 mile hike sounded like a good time and a good workout since we knew we would have to carry the kids most of the way.  My daughter can barely hike 1/2 mile but my son had hiked up to 5 miles in the past, so we planned to carry them quite a bit.  Nothing that we haven't done before but...family hikers pace vs. non-kid hikers is completely different, primarily in how fast/slow one hikes.  Either way we were up to the challenge.

It was a rainy day (WHAT?!) in the San Francisco Bay Area, as we headed out to Felton in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  The second we started hiking in the rain, I had immediate flash backs to hiking in the Peruvian Andes and it put me in a great mood.  Our kids hardly ever hike in the rain, but of course they enjoyed splashing in the puddles.

Russ, Paulina and David were in the front of the pack and we were in the back.  Our kids like to play the "in-and-out game" for the first hour of hiking, until we encounter an uphill they don't want to hike.  I can't remember all the details of our hike, now four months behind me but the things that stood out in my mind were:

  • Green ~ Everything was GREEN!  The Bay Area, especially the East Bay is brown ahem...golden most of the year and only turns green during the winter rains.  In this severe drought year, there was only like a 4 week period where water was flowing in our seasonal creeks and everything was green.  It was really refreshing.
  • Big Ben Tree ~ Not really too much to say about this except show pictures.

The whole familia fits inside Big Ben. Photo Courtesy of

Little Grunts

.

Getting to 13 miles....

We all were having a blast enjoying snacks, resting, taking pictures and eating that we took a little wrong turn due to so many fallen trees on the trail as well as many trail markers were destroyed or removed (see WineHiker comments below).  We realized our mistake 2.5 miles out from where we should have taken our trail, putting us at 5 miles added onto our 8 mile hike.  A 13 mile hike isn't all that difficult as a day hiker, but when you have 30-50 lbs of human plus snack, water and gear every step is well....hard.  I think I really earned my hamburgers and fries that day.

I'm smiling but I'm crying inside! Photo Courtesy of

Hiker Adventures

Well, there was nothing we could do but hike and hike as fast as we could because the winter daylight was short.  I don't know what happened with my children, I think God answered my prayers as we hiked along that kids wouldn't have a meltdown.  With a steady flow of candies, I mean snacks...water, being carried, singing, hand holding, my two and four year old made this 13 mile trek at Henry Cowell Redwoods.  At one point my husband carried both our toddlers because they both wanted Daddy to hold them.  Russ turned to me and said "Is that fair?" and I said, "I carried them for 9 months each, 1 mile won't kill him."

Oh by the way, did I tell you we calculated that our son hiked SEVEN of the THIRTEEN miles!

That's my boy!

I don't know what else to say about this hike, it was beautifully hard but worth every minute. It was a great family hiking milestone that we got to share with some great people.  What stands out the most in my mind now, is that the next day as my husband and I laid on our living room exhausted, Mr. David Wherry was running across the Golden Gate Bridge.  Oh someday, we will no longer be kid-carrying sherpas!  More pictures please and pass the cheese....

Group effort to get across! Thanks David and Russ!! Photo Courtesy of

Little Grunts

.

Lime Kline left overs....

Fun Times!

These niños....

Trail Report Detials

Who: Five Adults, Two Toddlers

Family Friendly: Very Difficult (due to distance)

Mileage: 12.9 miles, 13+ with extra walking around

Elevation Change: 2625 ft

Trails Description: Pretty much up a mountain and back down.

Trails: Bennet Creek Trail - Fall Creek - South Fork - Cape Horn - Lost Empire - Big Ben Tree (Not the Trail, the actual tree).  We continued onto Lost Empire Trail, instead of taking Big Ben Trail for the added five miles.  Continue onto Big Ben Trail and take Fall Creek Trail all the way to the Parking Lot.

I'm glad I know what my family is capable! What is your family's hiking limit? 

Related Links and Posts:

  1. Henry Cowell State Park: Big Ben Loop #winehike by Little Grunts
  2. Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park Wine Hike by Hiker Adventures
  3. Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park ~ California State Park Website

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Spring Time Hiking at Basin Falls ~ Uvas Canyon County Park

Uvas Canyon County Park is a very small but beautiful park in the South Bay.  Located south of San Jose in Morgan Hill, this park contains about 6 miles of hiking, four waterfalls and creeks for everyone to enjoy.

Photo Courtesy of 

+Paul McWilliams

.

On this occasion, I had a arranged a #HIRL (Hangout In Real Life) with a Google+ friend

+Paul McWilliams

 and his family, and invited friends of mine.  Three - 2 year olds, one - 4 year old and five parents!! I was the only solo parent hiking with two kids, since my husband was riding the Tierra Bella Century that day! What a better way to spend the day hiking to waterfalls and meeting up with new and old friends.  It may have been the first 

+Google+

 Toddler #HIRL history!

As hiking parents of little ones we knew that our mileage was not going to be long, so we aimed for the Waterfall Loop and if still felt energetic we were going to head to Triple Falls. Granted the latter never happened!

Waterfall Loop along Swanson Creek

Most of the hike was an uphill towards the waterfalls but it was not a difficult uphill since my two year old daughter hiked most of the way up. Still for toddler-carrying parents any uphill is a sweaty trek! We hiked counter-clockwise on Waterfall Loop, one side follows along the creek closely and the other side is a plain fire road trail. The creek-side trail, had actual creek crossings and bridges to walk across.  Two great features to keep kids hiking - water and bridges!

Creek Crossing!! ~ Photo Courtesy of 

+Paul McWilliams

Bridges Make a Hike Fun ~ Photo Courtesy of 

+Paul McWilliams

During a little carrier break, my daughter and I walked over to look at the flowers and she screamed, "Snake!!" and jumped backwards on the trail.  I only saw branches until a heard something rustle by my feet and saw something slither!! Of course I screamed and jumped back to where my daughter was standing but as I took a closer look it was a lizard carrying another lizard by the neck, I thought maybe they were mating but the lizard was definitely biting the other lizards neck.

After our lizard encounter, we continued on the spur and in a few minutes we were at Basin Falls which brought excitement to everyone, especially the little ones. There were lots of smiles from all the kids and parents when we saw the falls.  We tried to "relax" during our break at Basin Falls, but as always with kids, they are always trying to "not" fall into the water.

Chasqui Mom and niños!! Photo Courtesy of 

+Paul McWilliams

Splashing at Basin Falls!! 

Basin Falls Spur - Photo Courtesy of 

+Paul McWilliams

There was lots of splashing with sticks, rock throwing, investigating the water basin at Basin Falls and earthworms that came out out from under the leaves.  Lunch was eaten and after my daughter decided to not "accidentally" fall into the water, we packed up and headed back to Waterfall Loop (Fire road trail side).

Heading back! Photo Courtesy of 

+Paul McWilliams

We took another spur to Black Rock Falls, which wasn't as impressive as Basin Falls but the rocks were black!

Most of the kids were done hiking by then so we hurried back to the parking lot.  Thankfully the rest of the trail was downhill so everyone was able to hike fast to the cars.

Trip Report Details

Who: Three families - Five Adults, Four Toddlers

Family Friendly: Moderate

Mileage: 2.8 miles roundtrip

Elevation Change: 586 ft

Trails: Counter Clockwise Waterfall Loop, Basin Fall & Black Rock Falls Spurs

Time: Approx. 1 hour 30 minutes (moving time)

Method: Toddlers Partial Hiking/Carriers

There aren't too many waterfalls in the San Francisco Bay Area, but cheers to family hiking and waterfalls that we do have!!

Waterfalls are great for family hikes! What is your favorite waterfall hike?

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Related Posts and Links:

  1. Santa Clara County Parks - Uvas Canyon
  2. Chasqui Mom: South Bay Hiking

High Peaks at Pinnacles National Park

This is a continuation post of our Youth Group camping and hiking trip from April 2013 at Pinnacles National Park with eleven teenagers, four adults and our two toddlers.

Day 3, Saturday, April 6, 2013:

Bright and early, my husband was already up with the boy breakfast crew.  Apparently the girls pranked the boys by stealing their shoes overnight so the boys decided to retaliated while the girls slept in.  They also made breakfast at the same time.  The girls shoes were missing when they arose from their beauty sleep and let's just say teenage girls are not as forgiving as teenage boys.

What is it with boys/men cooking while camping?

After everyone had been fed, we packed up our lunches we started our enormous task of packing everything up. Some of our youth had never been camping or don't have any experience in properly packing and cleaning up a campsite.  It seemed like an eternity but we eventually got all the camping equipment back in the three vehicles.  There wasn't an obvious competition but the Boy Scouts group (our camp neighbors) were so efficient and fast, they made us look really slow. I explained to our group these Boys Scouts had been doing for years so they wouldn't be discouraged.  We also shadowed them during a good portion of our hike but they were doing their "30 miles in a day" hike and had done few miles in the morning before we even left camp.

Our First View of the High Peaks

Saturday was definitely more crowded that the previous day at Pinnacles! The park had shuttles running between the Visitor Center to the Bear Gulch Day Use Area. Our drivers dropped off our group and took the vehicles back to the Visitor Center and took the shuttle back to the Day Use Area.  I remained with the remainder of the group and had lunch while we waited for the drivers to return.

We finally started hiking and I was in front of the group with our youth student-leader Dixie.  My husband graciously took our son and daughter and hiked in the back of our hiking group. The condors were out and we could see them taking off from their nests. They look like little black specks in the picture above but those were condors.  I absolutely loved seeing so many condors because on our previous trip to Pinnacles we did not see a single condor.

There are a few switch backs on Condor Gulch but not anything difficult.  I was really amazed at the teenagers energy and enthusiasm, especially since most of these teenagers never go hiking.  It was one of our student's first time hiking ever and she was at the front of the line being very enthusiastic, motivating everyone to keep hiking.  At one point she said, "Come on guys! If we run that last two miles we will be done in 15 minutes!".  I thought to myself, maybe we got a future trail runner on our hands....

Overlook view of Condor Gulch Trail

Overlook view towards High Peaks

We took a longer break at the overlook and had a little hiking/backpacking survey.  The views were amazing as you can see from the pictures above.  If you look closely on the left side of the High Peaks the white marks (poop) on the rocks, was where the condors nests were located.  We saw many condors take flight from there homes and soar right above our heads down in the the valley, it was truly amazing!

We continued up Condor Gulch Trail which was a total of 1.7 miles until we reached High Peaks Trail.  During the remainder of the hike my daughter hiked with or at least near me being carried by one of the teenagers.  Of course having my daughter with me slowed me down, so my husband went to the front of the group with our son.  I spent the remainder of the hike at the back of the group but it gave me a chance to get to know that group of teenagers better.  Our normal youth group size at our church events are between 15-20 students so it's hard to get to know everyone.  Hiking and camping as a group gives us, the youth leaders, a chance to build a better relationship with our students.

Esperanza Viva Youth Group and Leaders

Some of the youth were very tired at the halfway point and I'm not going to lie, I was too.  There is a big difference when I am camping and hiking with my own family versus taking a group of other people's teenagers in addition to my family.  There is more planning, stress, constant teaching and motivation and I feel like I'm complaining but I'm not! It is so great to see our students grow, view the world in different ways and seeing them be open to the idea that the world does not revolve around them!  During a difficult part of the hike, one of our students asked if we brought them there to punish them! A little later he asked if we had brought him there to show him how insignificant he was! He asked the latter question after seeing the Balconies and the giant rock formations at the top of High Peaks.

Balconies View from High Peaks Trail

Dixie kicking butt on the trail!

Vanessa getting ready to climb up to the Peaks!

This is my California....

We had to teach a lot of our teenagers correct and safe hiking etiquette like not throwing trash on the ground, letting faster hikers pass by and in particular (my little brother) to not hike on the edge of a cliff trail.  Sadly my camera died soon after the picture above so I hardly  have any pictures from the actual High Peaks.

Photo Courtesy of Noe Garay

High Peaks was an adventure! Many of our teenagers said the felt like they were Indian Jones after we climbed up on the peaks and crawled on the very edge of a giant volcanic rock.  I am very glad that I was not with my husband when we went through the "treacherous" portion of the trail because my son told my husband that he was going to jump into the canyon so daddy could go rescue him with a Pogo stick like "Diego" and then tried to run towards the ledge.  I think I would have gone completely gray if I would have seen that.....

The one amazing thing I will remember for the rest of my life happened right after we finished getting through the difficult part of the peaks.  I was standing there with Dixie, Alexis and Manuel and a condor flew right by our heads, literally 10 feet from us.  None of us had our cameras but I'm pretty sure it's better in our memories then any picture that we would have taken.  Now I that have seen California Condors up close and personal, I have to see the Peruvian Condors as well.

We took another break with two miles left and everyone was exhausted.  Some of the youth didn't understand the concept that food and water is energy for their bodies, and that's when we realized some of had not been drinking or snacking like we had been telling them too.  That's when my mothering skills kicked and I knew it was time for "scare tactics" to make them understand the dangers of dehydration and made them understand that food is energy.  As well as letting them know if we didn't finish before 6 p.m. we would have to hike an extra mile back to the Visitor Center.  Then everyone quickly hiked down to the Bear Gulch parking and we made it to the parking lot before 6 p.m.

TRAIL REPORT

Apparently hiking with a group of teenagers is as slow as hiking with toddlers, approx. 1 mph.

Elevation Change was approx. 1300 feet, highest elevation 2,500 feet but it felt much higher since we were right on the edge of a rock.

Condor Gulch - High Peaks - Bear Gulch Trail

Overall, it was a great first youth camping trip and will definitely be doing more in the future.  With each trip we learn more and more about our youth and how to lead a camping group better as well introducing our church youth to the great creation that God made to enjoy.

Related Posts:

Youth Camping & Hiking at Pinnacles National Park

My husband and I are youth leaders at our church, so we decided to take our youth group (Jr. High and High School students) camping and hiking during their Spring Break to Pinnacles National Park.

Day 1, Thursday, April 4, 2013:

After squeezing all ten youths, four adults and two toddlers into a 1980's school bus and our Ford Escape, we left Newark towards Pinnacles National Park.  We stopped in Hollister for lunch and gas, only to find out that the church bus wouldn't start.  It's been a recurring problem, but long story short we got the bus started and headed down to Pinnacles NP where we waited for replacement vehicles.

My husband, Jesse had recently taken Front Country Leadership Training, through the Bay Area Wilderness Training, which trains youth leaders to take youth outdoors.  Jesse directed everyone to setup camp which went pretty smoothly, after my 15 minutes of irritation that my toddlers where swimming in the dirt.  I just need 15 minutes to come to grips that my toddlers would be dirty the entire trip and then I'm alright.

Casa de los Avery's

It had been a long day, so there were no hiking trips or activities planned because it really takes an enormous amount of time to setup camp for 16 people.  The dinner crew started setting up for dinner which was pre-made chicken fajitas from Mi Pueblo in Newark.

 I knew no one was going to have time to cut and prepare food, so I thought to get fajitas would be easy enough to just throw in the skillet!

Jesse taught the youth how to make fire, how to adjust their backpacks for the following days hike as well as how setup camp.  In the meantime I was trying to corral my toddlers and setup our mansion tent.  While taking a break, we happened to see Condors flying up above our campsite.  I was ecstatic because I did not see any Condors on our previous family trip to Pinnacles.

As always, everyone was excited to camp and not tired on the first night so all night I could here the youth girls tent yelling at the boys tent and visa versa.  Eventually everyone went to sleep, I think about 3:30 a.m.  It was a zoo all night long, frogs loudly croaked, owls hooted and there were even pigs fighting with what sounded like a raccoon, not to mention the girls laughing.

Day 2, Friday, April 5, 2013:

I tried to sleep in a bit but my daughter, Sophia was awake by 6:30 a.m. so we joined the breakfast crew and let our son, David sleep.  Everyone ate breakfast, packed our lunches and off we went to Bear Gulch Day Use Area so we could start our hike to Bear Gulch Caves and Reservoir.  We selected the Senior year students to be Leaders and Sweepers (End of the line leaders) and started hiking towards the Caves on Bear Gulch Trail.for 1 mile.

During that 1 mile we hiked through the caves which the teenagers and my toddlers thoroughly enjoyed.  Another adult hiker (not in our group), had hit her head on a low lying rock and was obviously in pain.  Everyone checked on her to see if she needed help but seemed more irritated as each passerby asked if she needed help.  Oh well.

The troops piling into the caves.

Everyone in our group emerged safely and we headed through one more set of caves that were "open" (sunlight lighted the way) and then up the stairs to Bear Gulch Reservoir for lunch time.  Originally we decided to hike to the Reservoir and back, but the kids were still enthusiastic about hiking so we decided to hike past the Reservoir towards North Chalone Peak on Chalone Peak Trail.

There were lots of wildflowers such as California Poppies, Indian Warriors, Shooting Stars as well as others that I don't know their names.  I'm a slow hiker because I'm a slow hiker and the fact that I'm usually carrying a backpack and one of my toddlers, so I take the time to take pictures of flowers, landscapes, etc.  The views of the High Peaks were amazing and we could see the trail that we would be hiking the following day but I didn't want to point it out to our youth because some of them were struggling or just not used to hiking.

My daughter fell asleep in my carrier for awhile which is always relaxing and this time I had company other than my husband to talk to.  One of the other youth leaders, Manuel found a baby rattlesnake during the hike up to the ridge.  Halfway up to the ridge a few of the youth were wanting to turn back but eventually everyone decided to continue up to the ridge, good peer pressure!  At the ridge the more adventurous teenagers wanted to continue to the North Chalone Peak which was at 3,304 ft, but after a long break at the ridge we headed back down the mountain.

We took another break at the Reservoir again and headed towards the caves.  I really didn't care for going through the caves again so I (along with Sophia) took the non-cave Moses Spring Trail with two other youths, Jose and Noe while the rest of the group went cave exploring.  We all eventually met back up at the Bear Gulch Day Use Area.

Everyone happily went back to camp, BBQ some Carne Asada, had some good campfire talks and went to bed.  My toddlers were exhausted and I fell asleep with my children.  I think I was partially dehydrated because I had a small headache and couldn't quench my thirst all afternoon, no matter how much water I had.  Just an extra reminder to continually drink water while hiking even if I don't feel thirsty.  Even the teenagers were really tired and everyone went to bed quickly.  It was a much quieter night except for some "ranchero" music playing in the wee hours.

HIKING STATISTICS

Hiked 5.2 miles in 6:11 hours.  I thought we'd hike faster than when we hike with our toddlers but apparently we hiked slower, I guess 16 hikers take their time as well.  

Elevation Change of about 1,100 feet

Bear Gulch Trail to Chalone Peak Trail (In & Out trail)

More pictures!

View of High Peaks from Chalone Peak Trail

Evidence I can carry my enormous toddler (35 lbs, maybe more)

My daughter really loves dirt, I mean really loves it.....

Flowers, unknown name

Jesse carrying David down to Bear Gulch

Jose (one of the youth's) enjoying the rock formations.

Day 3 of camping was so awesome it needs it own post!

Henry W. Coe State Park, Middle Ridge Trail Loop

"May these quiet hills bring peace to the souls of those who are seeking" - Henry Willard Coe

Last Saturday, we decided to do a "long hike" with our toddlers at

Henry W. Coe State Park

.  We were all itching to be outside after being confined to the house all week from the rain and my awful allergies.  We finally arrived to Henry Coe - Coe Ranch Entrance about 11:30 a.m.  The drive to the park was beautiful and it amazed me how close and quickly it became "not a suburb" of Morgan Hill on East Dunne Avenue.

We parked in overflow parking lot and hiked in 1/2 a mile the visitors center.  My daughter had not slept well (the story of her life) the night before so she was extra cranky so she spent hiking most of the day with 

+Jesse Avery

 and I with my son, David.

We arrived at the Visitor's Centers and saw lots of taxidermy animals, like the mountain lion, owls and other various birds.  The Park Ranger was very helpful and we decided to hike the Middle Ridge Trail loop between a 6.5-7.5 mile hike.  She also gave our kids some stickers, so they were really happy.  We gave the kids some chocolate and started up Manzanita Road toward Frog Lake.  The views were amazing on this part of the trail, the view is pictured above.

We finally have figured a method to hike with our toddlers, my husband takes Sophia on his shoulders and hikes as far as he can until Sophia wants to "hike" (aka, play in the dirt).  David and I eventually catch up to them and we have a snack, water break.  I only carry Sophia in the carrier when she's ready for her nap or if shes really cranky or else she's "hiking" on dad's shoulders.

Up, up up Manzanita Trail

David and I saw lots of California Poppies, which he wanted to pick to give to me but I told him those flowers were for looking only.  On the way up David and I saw a

Stellar Jay

, which looked like a Blue Jay so that's what I called it at the time.  We met up at the trail marker, had snacks, water and talked a little bit with some older hikers from the Felton and Connecticut, who were also taking a break.

We hiked to Coe Monument which was only 10 minute walk from our previous break.  It was rather windy and chilly at the top (approx. 3,000 feet).  The quote at the beginning of this post was the written on the monument, behind Sophia in the picture above.  The hills are very peaceful at Henry Coe SP, I felt like I was at Sequoia National Park.  Most of my childhood camping outdoor memories are at Sequoia National Park with my parents and my older brother.  I remember the smell of pines and how the trees sounded when the wind would pick up.  Hiking at Henry Coe SP had the same feeling the smell of the pine trees and the sound of the trees swaying in the wind.  I loved it.

All along the trails there were amazing Manzanita trees, very tall, the tallest I've ever seen in my life.  Jesse took off hiking with Sophia and I hiked with David for a long time.  I love having alone time with each of my kids and hiking provides this opportunity.  Jesse had bonding time with his baby girl and I had bonding time with my baby boy, who's not a baby anymore.  We hiked on Hobb's Road which was a dirt fire road, mostly downhill.  We saw some Indian Warrior plants, met some older hikers, found some deer tracks, and heard some frogs as we got near Little Fork Coyote Creek where Jesse and Sophia were waiting for us.

Lunch time at Little Fork Coyote Creek, had musical guests! The frogs were quiet for most of the time while we had our lunch but all of a sudden the frogs croaked very loudly, so loud that David and Sophia were scared for a few minutes.  We didn't see any animals until the end of our hike but we definitely heard and saw animal signs!  Sophia almost tumbled into the creek but my mommy lightening speed instincts kicked in and caught her before she fell in.  The creek was almost dry but she would have definitely gotten soaked.

After lunch, we left Hobbs Road and started on Frog Lake Trail to Frog Lake.  It was another 10 minute hike from the creek but we have to stop at every water source we find so the kids can throw pebbles in the water.

I was glad that Frog Lake was an actual lake because some website sources said that later on in the year it's more of an algae puddle.  Here's 

another picture of Frog Lake

 on my Google+ account.  I believe there was a campsite on the other side of the lake, but I might be mistaken.  The kids threw rocks in the lake and tried to fall in the lake as well, while I took pictures and had more snacks.  After we left Frog Lake, Frog Lake trail was uphill with some switch backs until we reached Middle Ridge Trail.

More evidences of animals, Acorn Woodpeckers in this case, here's a picture of one when we visited 

Pinnacles National Park

 in February this year.

Middle Ridge Trail, the views from here were amazing.  The camera can never truly capture what the eyes can see but it was really beautiful out there.  Sophia had fallen asleep in my front carrier, when we were climbing up Frog Lake Trail and slept most of the way on Middle Ridge Trail.  I had one moment when I was hiking alone with Sophia that was my surroundings came to life.  The winds were blowing and the pines trees were swaying and a dead fallen trees leaves rustled in the wind and I felt like the Earth was singing praises to The Creator and it reminded me of the following Bible verses, Psalm 96:11-13.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it.

     Let the fields be jubliant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.

     Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth.

     He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.

The Park Ranger describe Middle Ridge Trail as rolling hills which was very true except the part of the trail right after the picture above was taken.  David was a little tired when I took this picture, granted Jesse carried David on his shoulders up this steep part of the trail, which was quite a workout.  We stopped for a break after that uphill climb especially with each of us carrying toddlers.  I was huffing and puffing to get up the hill!

The steep climb was worth it, because at the top of the ridge was full of wildflowers!  There were shooting stars and an abundant of Indian Warriors along the trail, it was really beautiful.  As you can see my son rolling on the floor he needed a break so we stopped for "second lunch" at what looked like Indian Warrior heaven!

Everywhere we turned there were other wildflowers but primarily Indian Warriors.  It was very memorable, surrounded by previously burnt trees trying to come back to life and the forest floor covered in Indian Warriors.  Absolutely my FAVORITE part of the hike.  I took many pictures of different wildflowers but my camera isn't a really good and most of my pictures came out blurry. I believe these white flowers are called California Milkmaids.

After we left the Indian Warrior "field", we figured we had two hours left of sunlight and still had 2-3 miles left.  The trail was still going down hill and my son was tripping and rolling down the trail for fun, but he usually starts acting like that when he's very tired.  We hike at an average 1.5 mph with kids, it seems so slow but that how it is with toddlers.  We finally reached the end of Middle Ridge Trail and had 2.5 miles left on Fish Trail-Corral Trail to reach Coe Headquarters.

Sophia wanted to hike and it was finally safe enough for her to hike on level ground so she actually hiked for a few hundred feet before it the trail started descending.  Sophia bent down to pick up something and then flipped over and took a tumble down the "hill", it took a split second for me to realize she wasn't going to roll down the hill so we just laughed it off.

Jesse carried Sophia and I hiked with David most of the way on Fish Trail before we reached Little Fork Coyote Creek again.  At some point, David was completely done hiking and no amount of chocolate would keep him hiking!  Jesse loaded David up on his shoulders and I flipped my ERGO carrier around so Sophia can ride on my back and I put my backpack on my front-side.

We had another uphill 1.5 mile hike left with toddlers to carry.  I was really getting a work out, really tired and starting to get sloppy with my footwork.  I almost fell down at least five occasions!

With about 0.5 miles left to reach the Visitor's Center, we all see two deer's jump across in some trees near us.  I'm just glad my son and daughter saw some wildlife! I love seeing their reactions when they see "wild" animals when we are hiking.  We finally made it back the visitors center and the kids where beat but it was still another 0.5 miles to the car.  Jesse left us at some picnic tables with snacks and went to retrieve our car.

I thought our adventure would end there but it didn't....midway down the East Dunne Road, Jesse realized he  had a tick in his armpit, so he rips it out and throws it out the window.  I checked the kids but them seem clear and I checked myself and I seem clear as well.  We stopped at Jack In The Box to have some dinner and I'm paranoid that I have a tick.  As we finished up eating, I'm still paranoid about every itch I feel and then I feel an itch on my thigh/butt cheek so I decided to change my clothes.  Low and behold I found a tick on my butt cheek, so I yelled for Jesse and he ripped it out and threw it in the toilet.  That was my first tick ever and I hope I never get one again.

HIKING INFORMATION

Total Miles Hiked: 7.5 Miles in 6 hours 56 minutes

Manzanita Trail - Hobb's Road - Frog Lake Trail - Middle Ridge Trail - Frog Lake Trail - Corral Trail

Overall this was a great hike, maybe not very toddler friendly and for parents not used to hiking with their small children, but for parents who hike with their kids often this was a great hike. This was our LONGEST hike to date with our toddlers and we had a blast!

Happy Hiking!