We woke up to a cool, misty morning so we decided to drive part of Newton B Drewry Scenic Parkway and see what adventures we could find. Even though we had been in the car a long time the day before the boys were in complete awe of the trees as we drove along. We stopped at “Big Tree” and did a short loop hike there to look at things up close. This is an awesome little stop even if you just have a few minutes. The kids loved the sign with the facts and started comparing how many stories high the tree was and what was happening in the world 1500 years ago when this tree sprouted. Very fun!
Next we swung by the visitor’s center to pick up junior ranger booklets. One great thing about Elk Prairie Campground was that the visitor center was right on the edge so we didn’t have to backtrack or go out of our way to do the Jr. Ranger program.
For the afternoon we chose to hike Trillium Falls Trail. It had a little bit of everything. The hike was only a couple of miles but by the end the boys were not super engaged by trees any longer! The last quarter of the hike or so is not old growth forest so it looked a lot like a typical Pacific Northwest forest and the whining about being tired and hungry began.
In hindsight I wish we had done even just part of the Fern Canyon hike. I decided against it because the weather was cool and I thought wet feet would lead to kid drama, but the pictures are so astounding I’m disappointed we didn’t give it a shot.
By the time we finished our hike it was time to go turn in our Jr. Ranger booklets and get dinner ready. Then we snuggled into our tent to rest up for tomorrow’s drive.
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