Rest day of running means family hike up Mt. Tammany

Happy Easter!! 

With no close family nearby, we decided on going on a family hike for the holiday (after of course having a mini egg hunt and treats after the Easter bunny came last night).

Hiking is one of my favorite things to do when I'm not running, after all it is basically what brought my husband and I together. Coming from the Pacific Northwest, it was pretty much our backyard. There are so many bigger mountains there. The East coast has mountains, but not as tall and prominent. Great thing about the mountains on the East coast, is that it is perfect for the kiddos. My boys, so far really enjoy the outdoors and I hope it continues till they are adults. 

As to the hike today, it was awesome! First of all, the weather was ideal for hiking. Pretty much clear skies and with temps in the 60's, it was pretty much a perfect day for it. Mt. Tammany was a hike my husband and I had done once before, but it was probably 3 years ago when we did it last, and we felt it was perfect for our 4 and 1/2 year old to hike. Both boys enjoyed it. Our 3 year old still uses the backpack that he can be carried in at times, but he also did a great job walking some of the trail. 

The hike isn't the easiest as it climbs 1250ft in 1.5 miles with a little minor scrambling. My boys loved the rocks, so I was impressed with how well they did on them. At the top, are great views of the Water "Gap" - the break in the Kittatinny Mountains that was carved by the Delaware River and you can see Mt. Minsi across the way. 

Heading down, we followed the blue dots down, which had a more gradual descent. There were many rocks on the trail, so you really needed to watch your step when walking down. My 4 and 1/2 year old had this crazy idea of running down part of it. I couldn't believe how fast the little guy was. At one point it was actually hard for me to catch up to him. We even passed two groups, I was pretty impressed with how fast he could go with all the rocks you had to watch out for. 

Closer to the end of the trail, before we got to the parking lot, we came to a neat waterfall and bridge.

The hike was a total of about 3.5 miles. It's a great hike and I would totally recommend it to anyone that likes a short hike with great views at the top!