There was a point in my life when I considered myself to be “outdoor guy.” I had lots of gear that I regularly put to use on a trail or rockface on in the depths of a cave. But over the past 10 years I’ve transitioned into “has lots of unused gear guy.” With the coming of warmer weather, I’ve decided to do something about recapturing my previous title. It’s my plan to spend at least 2 Saturdays each month in the great outdoors, either in a creek or a cave, on a trail or a climb.
Last Saturday broke sunny and chilly, so we waited for the day to warm before heading out. It was me and a handful of my girls (Josie, Annabelle, and Sadie) accompanied by my buddy Andy and his daughter Lucy. Our goal was to have fun (first and foremost!) as we hiked to the top of Mount Nittany. It’s a pretty easy hike, climbing about 650 feet to the top, and our planned route would cover less than 2 miles out and back.
Sadie is a pretty enthusiastic outdoor girl; she loves to get dirty, seems to relish wet shoes and socks, and is generally good for lots of laughs and a couple of scrapes and bruises along the way. Josie and Annabelle have zero outdoor experience. I knew that Annabelle hates bugs and being dirty, but had no idea what to expect from Josie.
It turns out that while she was more than able to keep up with us, Josie isn’t too keen on the uphill part of the hike. Or the downhill! She grunted and groaned as we traipsed up the rocky path to the top. But once we reached the vista overlooking our house and State College, she LOVED it! I wasn’t to sure that she’d want to be part of the Sublett Outdoor Club, but I think she’s good for another adventure.
It was fun being in the woods with my girls. We made sure that our pace was suitable for them, took along enough water to keep them hydrated, and stopped every so often so that they could look for cool things in the rocks and leaves. AB and Sadie have just finished a unit on minerals, so they were quick to point out all the quartz along the path. Sadie spotted the fossil of a seashell in a rock on the path, and all the girls were enamored over the acorns that were sprouting roots. Andy was pretty handy at turning over rocks for them to check out all the little bugs that are loving the warmer weather. Annabelle was less than interested in that part of the hike…
I love being in the outdoors, and getting to spend some time exploring with my girls is fabulous. The woods and wilds offer us an excellent learning lab. We can check out the beauty and wonder of creation, and learn some things about ourselves along the way. Here are a couple of pics. Notice Sadie playing on the “balance beam?” Yeah, that’s just before she tumbled down and earned scrape number 2 of the day. I called it…
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