Hike 4: Patapsco State Park

The last time we were at this park was nearly seven years ago! INSANE! But I remember loving it so much. Of course, at that time, our boys were very little and not really in hiking condition. So given a holiday with decent weather, we trekked back up there to hike 5.7 miles. Not to spoil it, but the boys did it. The whole thing. This was the farthest they've ever hiked in one hike. I'm so so proud of them. Rhett never complained, except the one time he slipped and got super muddy. Ollie complained in the middle, but then realized how futile it was. But they were so so great. Ollie did not, however, break his record for number of pee stops. It was only six. Next time.

It had rained (of course it rained) the day before, so we were a bit afraid of mud, but for the most part, we lucked out! About ten days before we hiked, there was an ice storm. We think the heavy ice brought down many-a-tree because recently-downed trees were everywhere.


At our lunch stop, three old hikers teased (?) the boys. It was...weird?


Some old homestead.


As we approached the falls, there was a cool gazebo. Thankfully this was near the end because it's also where Rhett left his binoculars and where I had to run back to get them.


We finally made it to the waterfall. You can't see the girl in a BRIGHT orange dress getting pictures for her quinceanera.


Hey! We like each other!


This bridge! That boy! Those socks!


The hiking power beans for this trip are the HANDS DOWN best ones we eat. They may be the only ones we should eat. Get some.

83.1 miles to go!

Hike 3: Lake Frank

We did this in early February. It was another chilly day, upper 20s, but it was perfect! There were so many puddles that would have been so muddy, but instead, they were fun little frozen ponds. It was really cool. The creek was gorgeous all frozen. The boys did great! Well, except for one part where we went to a pond near where Chuck grew up. (His brothers used to fish in it!) It looked completely frozen and the boys REALLY wanted to walk on it, but we told them it wasn't a risk we were willing to take, even if other people obviously had. Three weeks later we read that our county police found a dead body THAT DAY right where we were. CREEPY.

The lake. So cool to see it so flat and white. All three boys enjoyed throwing logs onto it.


Pond walking.






88.8 miles to go!

5.7 Miles Down, 94.3 To Go

Even though we hadn't yet decided on our 2019 Hard Thing, we snowshoed on our first snow day of 2019 so I'm counting it as a 1.5-mile hike. And then on Monday, when the boys were off for a teacher workday, we did 4.2 more.

For this hike, I knew I'd need to get them excited about hiking in January. So I brought along sour watermelons and picked a hike in a place called "Rocks State Park." My boys LOVE rocks: love hiking on them and love throwing them. It was a bit of a drive, but we grabbed some books and they were (mostly) happy.

We did two hikes: one loop and one out-and-back to a waterfall. Winter hiking is cool because any mud is frozen solid! But I won't lie: it was cold (upper 20s). I was so grateful that I remembered hats and gloves for everyone. No way would we have lasted otherwise. I did not remember, however, my wallet. Whoops. We didn't see too many people on the trails, which was also nice because apparently the falls trail can get super crowded.

For some time, the loop hike was high above this cute creek.


There was so much moss everywhere. It was weird to have the bare trees but green on the floor.


Turns out there wasn't quite enough rocks for my boys, but they were mostly pleased.


The boys were super excited to find so many icicles near the waterfall. Rhett was less than thrilled when Ollie wanted to break them all off and eat them.


We had a great day and are excited to try many new-to-us trails this year.