Hiking Metcalf Bottoms

It's been a while since we've been able to coordinate a hike, so I was super excited to be able to get in one decent hike while we were in the Smoky Mountains on vacation. It doesn't help that I'm progressing along in my pregnancy, and hiking just isn't as easy as it normally is,  lol.

Due to scheduling conflicts our trip to the Smokies was a week later than normal. I was a little worried as to what the weather would be like. But, we were blessed with beautiful fall weather. It only rained once and only one day was it terribly cold. 

This is our second time hiking Metcalf Bottoms which starts out by the Little Pigeon River. Our first adventure to this beautiful hiking destination was an epic ordeal to say the least; all on account of NONE of the trails being marked! We ended up carving our own trail at one point and it took us twice as long to get to the schoolhouse, ugh!!

This time we knew where to go, even if the park services did finally put some decent trail markers!!

Y'all this hike is not for the unfit! There are some intense inclines at multiple sections. While I don't consider myself to be the most physically fit person, I'm certainly a fairly active woman and there were moments I was heaving pretty heavily. 

There are two bridges on the trail that consist of a single log and one crudely constructed rail. Yeah talk about a moment of panic when it came to my little ones crossing the bridges.

Praise the Lord none of us fell! Even though the bridges aren't all that high and the creek bed was fairly dismal, I imagine a fall from either of the bridges would leave a mark and be painful!

The trail continues on to the Walker Sister's old homestead, but both times we've been here we've only hiked to the Old Little Green Briar Schoolhouse. Maybe one day we'll actually make it to the homestead.

Perks of being a homeschool family and loving nature, my kiddos can spot little critters from a mile away!

It's hard to believe the last time we were here, little Miss Lydia was in my belly and now she's nearly two and about to be a big sister. Time passes when we blink!

Ahh the beauty of fall was all around us. One of my middle boys spent the entire return hike helping me scavenge for the perfect red leaf. 

After our hike we had a picnic and then the children and daddy went exploring the river. They find it great fun to hop along the rocks, but it never fails that a little one falls in, sigh! Thank goodness no one has ever gotten hurt and the river is shallow.

I think Fall is the perfect time to go hiking. The temperature is mild, the trees are changing, the bugs are minimal, it seems easier to breathe (verses the summer), and on and on I could go. It just always seems our schedule is so full in the fall that hiking gets put to the back burner until after the holidays. I think next year I'm going to have to rectify that and plan a few more hiking adventures in the Fall.

From what I understand there are a plethora of hiking trails in the Smoky Mountains. We've only had the privilege of hiking three different trails and one of them was wayyyyyy tooooo dangerous for my littles bitty ones! Of course sometimes you don't figure that little snippet out until you get on the trail ~ sigh, insert eye roll. I'm hoping to plan to explore some new trails the next time we go. But to be honest, this year it was good to go on a trail we already knew, especially in my very pregnant state, 😂

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Camping at Coleman Lake

Coleman Lake

As many of y'all have probably caught on, I love traditions! I also enjoy adding new traditions to our already giant arsenal of regular scheduled family memory making opportunities. I love routine and order. I like knowing what's expected of me and how to plan and prepare for what's coming ahead ~ I think that's why I love traditions so much. 

Doing spur of the moment events can be really difficult with a large family. With traditions, I can plan months in advance (especially in regards to the financial aspects). Let's face it, some events just cost more because there are more people involved. It's not exactly easy making sure we have everything necessary for certain adventures, simply because the stores (even Amazon) don't always stock enough of any particular item for 11 people. 

We've tried various different forms of camping over the years. We've tried 'camping' in a borrowed motor home (back when we only had five little ones). Um, yeah that's a story for another day. We've tried camping in a pop-up camper (we made it through two nightmare trips and that baby was sold!). And we did the old fashion tent camping once, many moons ago. None of these camping trips were exactly 'fun'. They were filled with non-stop drama and complications. So we hung up our camping gear and quit trying.

Fast forward about 5 years, and I really wanted to try again to share my love of camping with my children. I grew up tent camping and have the absolute best memories of our family camping adventures. I get that camping isn't everyone's forte, but it is apart of me and something I enjoy doing. So, I began collecting upgraded camping gear for our large crew, with the intentions that we'd try tent camping again.

This is about the time I implemented our back to school backyard campout. I figured camping in our backyard was about as close as I was going to get to real camping (for the time being) and for those who didn't want to participate, they could sleep inside the house. Also this allowed me to slowly acquire new camping equipment which in turn would make future camping trips more enjoyable.

Camping in the summer in the south just isn't ideal so we have to wait until the fall and spring months. Last year I decided we were ready to embark on our first 'away from home' campout about an hour away at Coleman Lake nestled in the Talladega National Forest. Sadly, this camping trip was cut short due to an unexpected cold front that swept through the area. We did not have appropriate cold weather camping gear and with two little ones under the age of two I was worried they would freeze to death. At around midnight we broke camp and headed home to the comforts of our warm house. {{sigh}}

Now, one year later, I planned again for our Coleman Lake camping trip. This year I scheduled our trip one month earlier. Unfortunately, this year we are experiencing record breaking HIGH temperatures and instead of it being freezing cold it was extremely hot. {{ugh}} I just can't seem to win when it comes to planning camping trips! But, I am determined to keep trying and sharing my love of camping with my children. While the big kids are not a fan (YET), my youngest four love camping!! I'm going to take that as a mom win!!

The little ones love helping put up the tent. And I must say again that this CORE tent is amazing!! Super easy to set up and plenty big enough for our family. Worth every penny.

As is custom for our family adventures, drama is sure to ensue. We had a major injury within an hour of setting up camp. {{groan}} Our three year old took a terrible tumble down a hill and smacked his head on the hard concrete road. We thought we were going to have to leave to take him to get stitches, thankfully we didn't, but he was certainly down for the count for the rest of the evening. 

The 'family room' for our overnight camping escapade. 

Camping ~ campfire ~ weenie roast. Yep I'm predictable like that.

And of course s'mores!

Poor little guy. I think the sweet treat helped to pick his little spirits up even if it didn't help with the massive headache I'm sure he had. 

Since I'm not a pro at cooking over the fire, I invested in this single burner butane stove. Let me just tell y'all this little stove is a thousand times better than a propane camp stove! Unfortunately, I did forget our 'camp kitchen' bucket so we had to make do with cooking and cleanup. Thankfully my family is awesome at accepting challenges and rolling with the 'punches', lol.

Breakfast was nothing fancy. A yogurt squeeze and an egg scramble which included bacon bits, eggs, southern hash browns, and cheese. No one complained and everyone seemed to get full.

After breakfast we broke camp and headed out on a hike around the lake.

Nothing like hiking in the woods!

There was no shortage of opportunities to explore and enjoy nature.

Even though everyone in our family isn't exactly in love with the idea of being in the great outdoors, most of them do have a deep appreciation for God's creation.

I love being able to carry my babies hiking through nature. I will miss these days when they are gone. They will truly always be treasured memories that I hold close to my heart.

While I still haven't convinced the majority of my family to have the same passion for camping as I do, everyone was a good sport and tried their best. I wish we could go on multiple camping trips a year, but I don't want to push my limits. There's no sense in dragging my people to do more things they don't want to do than is absolutely necessary. 

I took plenty of notes while we were camping for items to purchase that will hopefully make next years camping trip even better. Yes folks, I am relentless, I'm not going to give up just yet on imparting my love of camping onto my kids. Even with all the challenges we faced, the memories we made were priceless. Lord willing my children will remember the highlights and one day realize how wonderful it is to experience the great outdoors through camping.

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Hiking Smith Mountain

What did y'all do on Labor Day? We decided to drag our kiddos on a hiking adventure in the blazing 95 degree Alabama heat to Smith Mountain in Dadeville, Alabama. Yeah we're kinda crazy like that! Some of our crew really wanted to go while others were less than thrilled at the idea. But hey, we didn't have anything else going on so why not go exploring? Family bonding at it's finest, right, lol.

We have never before ventured to this part of Alabama and I was super excited to see what it had to offer. Despite warnings that some of the trails were not fit for 'small or unruly children' (the Smith Mountain website's words, not mine), we decided to go there anyways. We were hoping some of the trails would be suitable for our little ones. Ha! Sometimes ignorance is bliss, eh?

Smith Mountain Historical Fire Tower trails are nothing short of spectacular in more ways than one, I can assure you of that fact! Labor Day 2019 we officially put our motley crew to the 'hiking test' ~ and we actually lived to tell about it (which is nothing short of a miracle!). What was suppose to be a quick and easy leisurely ONE hour hike turned into a two hour battle of strength and endurance for ALL of us! 

My husband did offer to carry Lydia on his back at the start of our adventure, but I was stubborn and didn't want to adjust my baby carrier settings. I had no idea it was going to be such a difficult hike or I would have let him carry her. There were too many instances to count where I was scrambling on all fours up and down and all around the many, many rocks that made up the Smith Mountain Fire Tower trails. Thankfully we never fell and she had a grand ol' time, never the wiser of how strenuous the hike was for dear old mama, lol.

The trails were steep and blanketed with huge rocks. When we reached the top of the trail a fellow hiker was impressed that our three year old had made it up the trails (so was I!). He just so happens to be my little hiking buddy, and he asks every week when are we going to go hiking again ~ melts my heart, especially since some of my people give me a whole lot of grief when I announce we're going on a hiking adventure {{sigh}}.

Once we reached the top of Smith Mountain, the views were absolutely breath-taking!!!! A few of my older children climbed the fire tower and took this picture over-looking Smith Lake. 

 Last week I posted how we had only ever had one incident hiking where I was slightly worried about our safety. Well, make that two times now. {{Groan}} The trails at Smith Mountain were terribly marked. Very, very confusing is putting it mildly. I assumed since the trail heading up the mountain was so intense that perhaps the returning trail might be just a tad bit easier ~ I was wrong. Not only was it steep and many sections had you sliding down on your rear, but most importantly it was NOT marked well AT ALL!! It took three wrong turns before we found a trail that eventually lead us back to the van. And it wasn't even a trail but a service road. Never a dull moment in our life, folks.

It isn't often my oldest gets to go hiking with us, but this trip he was able to join us. He was a good sport jumping into pictures and even suggesting pictures I should take. It was a lot of fun having the entire family hiking and enjoying the great outdoors together.

Massive pinecones aren't something you see too frequently on Alabama trails, but this particular hike we were all amazed at the monster-sized pine cones we found lying along the trails. 

After a major detour we eventually found our way off the mountain and back to our van. We were all soaked to the bone with sweat and ready to eat our picnic lunch. While Daddy and big sister were getting the food ready and refilling water bottles, the boys filed in for this final picture of the day. It's a rare treat to get a picture of all the boys in the family. 

Believe it or not, this over-picture-taking mama was so enamored by the views and bluffs at the top of the mountain that I did not get a picture of the fire tower. {{insert eye roll) So this is a screen shot of one I found online, lol. 

Here's a little history lesson on Smith Mountain Fire Tower: The fire tower was originally erected in 1939. It was built by the Alabama Power Company in an effort to keep a visual lookout for forest fires. The tower and surrounding 10 acres rotated ownership between Alabama Power and the Alabama Forestry Commission over the years. By 1980 technology improved to the point that there was no longer a need for a manned fire tower. Unfortunately, the tower was left to ruins and the land became a dumping ground. In 2010 the Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail Association acquired the deed to the land and tower. With the help of volunteers and donors the tower has been restored and the land is now a beautiful place to explore. 

While I was quite surprised at how difficult the hike was, we all made it and we all drastically improved our abilities in rock scrambling and hiking in general. We had an acute lesson in confidence building and perseverance. We laughed, we struggled, we got frustrated, but most importantly we spent time together as a family in God's beautiful creation. The Lord's grace and mercy overflowed, especially as mom and dad were kind of panicky at one point ~ anxious to find a way off the mountain. 

Was our little adventure hiking Smith Mountain drama-free HA! NOT hardly!! But, I'm glad we went, I'm grateful for the memories we made, and I would do it all over again, even knowing what I know now. That's the perks of being a perfectly imperfect family: we try, we get knocked down, but we pick ourselves right back up and keep on going ~ all the more stronger for challenges we conquer. Not to mention the pictures and stories we have to share are epic!

With Love and Hope,
Jennifer

Hiking with Children

I grew up hiking. I love hiking. I could easily go hiking weekly if not daily. Being in nature calms my spirit. I went years without hiking ~ like 15+ years and never graced the entrance of any trails. But, one day I realized how much I missed hiking and that I really wanted to share the hiking experience with my children. So, I started planning and taking my littles on hiking adventures. 

When hiking you naturally need some gear to safely and comfortably get you and your little crew onto the trails. I'm a minimalist hiker and bring the bare minimum. When planning our hiking excursions I try to make sure we are on heavily trafficked trails that are adequately maintained. I am NOT taking my children on eight hour long hikes, shoot most of the time our hikes our under two hours.

My main reason for keeping our hikes to under two hours is that we currently have several under the age of five. Trust me folks that age bracket can be highly temperamental, especially on the trails, lol. Keeping our hikes short and sweet insures we all get out and back to the van with as minimum meltdowns as possible. But, I have found that the more you get out there, hiking with your kiddos the more they want to do it and the better they get at it; actually wanting to keep going once you get to the 'turn around point'.

I started back hiking when I was pregnant with baby number eight. I didn't want to stop hiking because I was pregnant or had a baby, so I had to make sure I had the necessary gear to enjoy hiking with a baby. For me that's simply one item: my Becco baby carrier. Now I know there are awesome 'hiking baby carriers' available, but this one suits multiple needs and I LOVE it!! When they're teeny tiny I can wear them on my front and as they get older I wear them on my back. It is so comfortable, but most importantly it does not hurt my back!

Ok y'all another must have item for this mama is decent hiking shoes. I'm just going to go ahead and share this ~ I'm highly uncoordinated AND accident prone (insert eye roll and groan!!). Having good quality hiking shoes is a must for this mama. I love my Merrell's. I bought them at an outlet shop a few years ago and they have held up wonderfully. Our children do not have designated hiking shoes, I simply make sure they're wearing good tennis shoes.

Other items I make sure we bring on our hikes include:

First aid kit, diapers, wipes, tissue, cell phone (not always with service but good to have), bug spray, and sun screen tucked into a fanny pack (like this one) that I typically wear. This fanny pack is awesome because you can wear it like a backpack, over your shoulder, or around your waist. There's so much room in it and it's comfortable to wear. Plus I can wear it while I am wearing my babies. It's best to be safe and have the essentials in the event of an emergency.

Two lightweight backpacks (like this one) filled with water for each person and usually a snack. The older children rotate carrying these packs throughout our hikes. These little backpacks have been put through the ringer! I actually love them more than my light weight Osprey (which cost a whole lot more!). They're easily adjustable, packable, and have held up for several years now, being overloaded with the weight of multiple stainless steel water bottles and snacks. AND they're super affordable! I bought enough light weight backpacks for most of my children to tote their own backpack during our hikes, but for now we just bring two and disperse our water bottles and snacks between the two.  

That's it! Nothing overly complicated to getting out into nature and exploring with children, even when they're babies. Of course I must say a small disclaimer ~ be smart, research your hiking destinations, tell someone where you're going, start small, but most importantly don't stop (even when your hiking adventure doesn't go as you had envisioned)! Trust me y'all there have been plenty of hiking excursions I've dragged my kids on that have been a total bust. 

Thankfully, we've only had one time where I was concerned for our safety and that was 100% my fault as we took a wrong turn on some poorly marked trails. But, in that instance I never let the children know I was worried, I just kept encouraging them to keep going, and it ended up being one of our fondest hiking memories. That little hiking adventure gone terribly wrong turned into our longest hike ever, reigning in at three hours! It truly pushed us all to our limits, but we did it, we made it out, and even though that hike didn't go as planned, it made us all better hikers! 

Hiking with children can be done and it doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. Yes, sometimes your children may not want to go (half of mine really do not enjoy hiking), but once I get them to our hiking destination everyone usually has a great time. To me being in nature is like being close with the Lord, our wonderful Creator. It's peaceful, calm, and void of worldly distractions that vie for our attention. Hiking is a perfect way to decompress, relax, regroup, and most importantly connect as a family. 

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Back to School Hike at Lake Howard

If you hang around this blog for any length of time you'll quickly catch on that I LOVE traditions. I absolutely love planning for them and looking forward to them coming around each year. One of our back to homeschool traditions is to go on a celebratory hike concluding our first week. For many years we went to Mount Cheaha State Park. But after they upped the entrance fee from $10 a car load to $8 PER PERSON we quit going there. 

On a trip back from the beach three years ago I discovered Lake Howard. Which happens to be an amazing off-the-beaten path boating and hiking destination. It's actually a dirt bike trail, but plenty of folks hike there and in three years of hiking at Lake Howard, I've only seen one person riding a bike on the trail. It takes about an hour to get there from where we currently live, but since it's free, it's totally worth it to me!

I think it's so fun to take the same pictures year after year and watch our family grow. This particular hike was just me and the eight younger children as my husband and oldest had to work.

I must be honest half my children do not enjoy hiking. But, they typically admit to having fun after we venture into the woods. I always have at least one kiddo who is thrilled to be on the hike. You know that one who wants to walk right beside me, volunteer for a dozen pictures and even slips their hand into mine as we hike along the trail. It really makes all the extra work, dragging eight children out the house and into the woods totally worth it!

I'm a huge proponent of baby wearing. There's so many styles to choose from these days, that it's super easy to find a brand and style the suits your needs. My favorite is the Beco Baby Carrier. I've worn my current carrier with four different babies to great extents.  It was worth every penny and then some. I couldn't do half the stuff I do with a baby in tow without a baby carrier, especially hiking. My bigger boys and my husband have even worn this baby carrier. And I've yet to have a baby that didn't love riding on my back (or front).

The Lake Howard trails are wonderfully maintained and accurately marked ~ which is not always the case with many of  the trails we've been on over the years. Of course, my children love to venture off the path for a little exploring, but even then the brush is adequately cleared. 

I must give a disclaimer though in regards to the Lake Howard trails, on a scale of 1-10 (one being the easiest and 10 being the hardest), I'd rank them at around a 7. This would especially be in regards to the main trail. There are some intense inclines that might be difficult for some folks to navigate. 

That being said, my three year old does walk the trails on his own. But my crew, as you can tell, pretty much grow up hiking and quickly get acclimated to the rigors of intense trails. I try not to make a big deal about it and just encourage them when they start struggling. But there have been times when a big brother or sister has helped piggy-back ride a little one at difficult parts of our hiking adventures. 

When we are  hiking I usually will set my cell phone timer for a minimum of 30 minutes. After 30 minutes I reevaluate how everyone is coping on the trails and if we're doing okay we keep on walking, if not we turn back around. I do try to be mindful that the little ones will have to make it back out, lol. At Lake Howard it takes us about 40 minutes to reach where the main trail forks. So, that is always our goal for this particular hiking adventure. 

If it were up to me, I could go hiking at least once a week, but that is highly impractical under our current family dynamics (and  I wouldn't change those for anything). Which is why I'm extra grateful for the times when we do make it into the woods to enjoy God's creation. Being in nature helps me to regroup and refocus my energy. For some reason when we're hiking I seem to forget all the worries of life and I can just breathe, feeling truly at peace. So while it does take an act of congress to get us to these little hiking adventures of ours, they are so very worth the hassle to me. 

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer