In Pursuit of a Hike

The boys and I went on a hike a couple of days ago. We're on spring break, and have enjoyed every minute of being home. We have done yard work, spring cleaning, spring cooking, spring clothes shopping, gardening, reading, tv watching, and sleeping in. But that day was the warmest day of the year so far, and there was no chance that we were staying inside. Off on a hike we went. We did 2 trails on the  Rock Bridge State Park  trail system. We started with the Grassland trails, and then hit the Sinkhole trail on the other side of the road. My goal is to eventually walk every mile of this trail system. We're getting closer! The last time we went to the Grassland Trails, the boys were so little.  That hike was also in spring, which in my opinion, is the best time to do the Grassland Trail. Unfortunately, there wasn't much wildlife out yet. I guess the animal kingdom is taking its time waking from winter. The boys broke from the car in a full run. Apparently, we needed ...

Our first hike of the New Year is in the books! Every year on New Year's Day, I think about what the year will bring in the way of hiking adventures. I love looking at Missouri State Park maps and making hiking goals. The boys have been wanting to get back to  Ha Ha Tonka State Park  ever since we hiked there last fall . We loved the views, the trail options, and the geological features. We couldn't wait to get back here to check out some more trails. Hello 60 degree weather in early January! Hiking trails, here we come. One of the things we love about Ha Ha Tonka is that there are tons of options of trails. You can do short loops, medium loops, long loops... You can do combination of loops without overlapping trails, and every trail is easily accessible from one of a handful of parking lots. On only our second visit, we felt like we had a pretty good layout of the entire park and could easily navigate the trail loops. So for starters, we hit the Acorn Trail. ...