Top of the world
Yesterday I settled back into summer in a very nice way--a hike! We packed a lunch, our journals, and our Valley Quest book and set out for a jaunt.
Valley Quest is like letter-boxing. There are boxes hidden all over our area that you find with the help of clues written as poems. The poems tell little stories about the location's history, geography, or environment.
We found the hidden box deep under a rock. Inside the box was a little notebook, where we left a message, and a stamp and stamp pad so we could stamp our Valley Quest book with the location and date.
To be honest, my girls aren't the most enthusiastic hikers. The treasure hunt adds a certain excitement to the journey. We stayed up on the mountain for about an hour until some dark clouds came and then headed down. Lou's favorite part of the trip was sketching up on top of the world.
Hels' favorite part was the walk back through the woods.
She was the leader and insisted on a different way out....which put us about 3/4 mile further up the road from our car. It is a little startling to emerge from the woods to an unfamiliar, empty dirt road. It turned the end of the trip into a bit of an adventure (and lesson) which they told to their Dad in a song to the tune of "The bear goes over the mountain."
That is a perfect way to settle back into the summer, the view from the top couldn't be any better.
This looks like such a neat thing to do! Tess is a reluctant hiker; I think a quest for something would help her to find more enthusiasm. You live in some very beautiful countryside!
Oh, I love that. Sounds like a fun idea. And what beautiful photos! Wow.
The treasure hunt sounds like so much fun. The view from the top of the mountain in so pretty and green! I think I would be inspired to draw as well. Have a great day!
Sounds like no-tech geocaching! And a great way to inspire a hike.
This sounds like such a perfect day! I'd love to sum up all my days to the tune "the bear went over the mountain." Yay for sketching at the top of the world!
OOOOOOO! Thanks for a great idea! But I'll have to be the one schlepping up the ridge the day before to hide clues!
Hey, is that Mount Manadnock(sp?)!?