Category Archives: Hiking
South Toledo Bend State Park
South Toledo Bend State Park
September 5, 2011
Wanting to have a change in scenery we headed to Louisiana. 
The state park is probably about an hour drive from our house but the idea to go to a different state seemed to excite the kids.
Summer Fun
Summer Fun
August 8, 2011
We were headed back to Martin Dies Jr. State Park, this time to take advantage of the fishing without a license in the state parks! I wasn’t all that into fishing so I told them let’s first hike and geocaching the Wildlife Trail then go fishing later.
Austin was dubbed “pack horse” for today. He doesn’t mind because for the most part it is his field guides in that pack!
I Will Survive
I Will Survive
7-30-11
Once again we find ourselves down at Martin Dies Jr. State Park enjoying one of the wonderful hour long Saturday classes about nature. This time we are learning the basics on how to survive out in the wilderness if we get lost.
One thing she told us is to always have a “flight plan” and tell someone where you will be and for how long. We learned from past experience that it doesn’t take much to get “lost.” When we hiked the Kirby Trail and we accidently got on the wrong trail it was pretty scary to think about what all could have happened. The trail we ended up on was one that was open to hunters during hunting season which just happened to be when we was hiking. We could have gotten shot and no one would have known where to look for us because we took off without much thought of telling people where we were going, we should have learned the basics back then.
After the lesson Ms. Katherine had the kids put together a pamphlet about how to survive in the wild.
Geocaching and Gator watching
Geocaching and Gator Watching
(caution contains geocaching spoilers)
June 13, 2011
Anna’s friend Matt has been asking about going hiking with us for some time now so even though it was HOT in the middle of June in East Texas, we decided to get up early and go hike the Island Trail at Martin Dies Jr. State Park and to add a bit of excitement to it, we wanted to geocache as well.
The sun was up and brightly shining in the eyes of my little hiker cachers this morning! They were excited none the less!
The Husband Clan’s Geocaching
The Husband Clan’s Geocaching
June 8, 2011
We have taken up a new hobby, Geocaching! For those who don’t know what it is, this is how it is described on the box of my new Magellan eXplorist GC GPS:
“Geocaching is a high-tech version of the game “hide and seek”, where adventure seekers use GPS technology to hide and find physical objects, solve location-based puzzles, and share experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people of all ages and promotes a strong sense of community and support for the environment”
One video I watched on Geocaching a lady said, “ It is a way to get nerds out into the wilderness.” I thought that fit me pretty good, even though my kids are undecided if I am a nerd or a geek.
Basically, (in the simplest form) what you do is get at least a basic free membership to www.geocaching.com and put in your address to look up the nearest cache and either send it to your GPS or get the iPhone app (the app logs the caches for you.) Then drive in your car and just follow the directions until you get close, hop out and look for a cache. Sign the log book, trade trinkets if able, and log it onto the Geocaching website and poof you found your first cache.
I was officially labeled the “The Nag-a-gator”, now to explain this: I have control of the iPhone or GPS and tell them where to try to look. Of course, I am supposed to be “the navigator” but a bad pronunciation and a little humor from my husband, I am now “The Nag-a-gator.”
Oh Happy Daze 