Yesterday I did two hikes with the kids, each part of the Henderson Heritage Preserve located in Aiken, SC.
The first trail was the loop trail. This trail is 1.7 mi long and easy. Here we found lots of violets to forage for making violet jam! There was a beautiful pond, a bird’s nest, and lots of animal tracks. We looked for frog spawn in the pond but didn’t spy any as of yet. Yellow Jessamine was in bloom everywhere. We had a pic nic by the pond and played for a while. But still I wanted to see and do more and so did Ellie! And Elias just goes with the flow! 🙌🏼 So…
So after we completed this hike full of exploring, observing, and foraging, we drove 5 mins down the road to another trailhead for the “lower trail.” This was so cool! Nothing is marked in a heritage preserve the way it may be in a national forest. Definitely use your AllTrails app and dare to be a rebel like we were and go further than it tells you…you’ll see other marked trails and if you pull a Robert Frost and “take the road less traveled by,” you may find “all the difference.” We certainly did. We came to a bridge that crossed a small creek bed where we saw beautifully preserved tracks in the sand of the water of a beaver going with the current. We will be back here to splash in summer! We continued on, knowing that we hoped to find things others had found but fewer had dared to adventure towards…things like a family’s burial site from the late 1880’s - the Kenned family. Very interesting! And best of all, we found what Ellie excitedly, innocently, and so purely and beautifully asked of, “is this the Grand Canyon?!?!” I mean that wonder is really what it’s all about for me with these babies. We played for hours climbing, hiding, playing make believe, building, writing in the sand, decorating and imagining with sticks, pinecones, and flowers. It was happiness to my core. I actually skipped a few breaths from sheer elation smiling upon my babies and said quietly under my breath to my God in Heaven above, “if You moved us away for only this one moment, I praise You for allowing it to me.”
At the end of the day, I did so much hiking and climbing and playing I have no accurate idea how far I went on the trail, I think this last one may have totaled around 2.1. All I know is in the entire two hikes I went beyond 15k steps and burned more than 1300 calories so…I was moving. And my girl did it all too - barefoot as always and as she should be! 🙌🏼😍❤️🌱 But it was easy, and it was easy to get to so I’lol be happy to explain to anyone wanting to find what we did!
I deeply encourage you to explore with your kids today and allow them the time to make a new world in the environment around them. Let them be wild and free!
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