Climbing Mt. Monadnock, NH

Yesterday my family and I climbed to the summit of Mt. Monadnock located in NH. It was an experience that my children will remember for the rest of their lives and so will I. That was our first climb up the mountain and we met some wonderful people. At the summit we met another family who also had their 8 year old boy the was making his first summit climb. When he found out it was also my son's first trip to the summit of a mountain he put his hand out they congratulated each other. It was great to see other families getting outside together. My children came down with such a sense of accomplishment. My son kept saying he couldn't believe he did it. We talked about now that they have climbed a mountain, if they get overwhelmed at school by a test or schoolwork all they have to do is take a breath and say "I can do this, I climbed a mountain." I think this especially hit home for my son because he is very intelligent but struggles with severe dyslexia and gets overwhelmed quickly. This was just the kind of confidence booster he needed even though that wasn't part of the original plan. Doing something together that is a first for the whole family (it was my first time up Mt. Monadock too) really bonded us together. And I had a blast adding to some beautiful landscape pictures to my photography portfolio!

Some hiking side notes:

Please be prepared! My son is a cub scout so we used planning this as a way for him to earn a belt loop, but plan and pack appropriately. There were a lot of people going up without the proper gear if they were to get in trouble.

We researched the trails ahead of time, packed a lot of water in each of our backpacks, I had rope, compass, whistle, extra food, blanket, first aid kit, ace bandages, and bug spray in mine to name a few things. We also talked about hiker safety and ethic. We stayed on the trails, payed attention to what trail we were following (encouraging our children to find the next trail marker), we stayed together, and followed "Leave No Trace" by cub scouts.

Mt. Monadnock- is aprox 3200 in elevation. We followed the white dot trail up (little over 2 miles to summit) and the white cross trail down. Both trails have some pretty tough terrain where we had to use 3 points of contact to maneuver. It took us about 2 hours up and 1.5 coming down.

Have an hour? Take a Hike!

This past weekend my children clearly needed something to do because they were making each other crazy. Who would think brothers and sisters do that? Anyways I told them we were going for a hike. With a little resistance they came, but as soon as we got to the park in town and took a few steps thier attitudes changed instantly. We didn't have a lot of time because we had plans later in the day, but you don't need a huge block of time to hike in your neighborhood. Our entire hike plus quick drive was about an hour long, but was so much more valuable in the interest it sparked in my children.

We quickly found a rock pile that my children enjoyed exploring and telling me about all the interesting facts they had been learning at school about the different types of rocks and minerals. Their rock and mineral itnersted continued through the entire hike and is something they are still talking about. We are planning on purchasing a field guide this weekend to take with us on our future hikes. My children went from not wanting to go to not being able to wait until our next one. Sometimes it getting children outside and away from the technology takes a little push, but they are usually very happy when the do!

Here are some pictures from our hike.

Don't forget Earth Day April 22nd! The Children and Nature Network has a link to search for acitivities that are happening in your area to get children outside. Check it out.

Click on one of the "Let's Go" Badges to the right to bring you there.

(Sorry for the delay in posts! Compurter problems)