Why hike in the cold? We wanted to take advantage of the sunny day, it wasn't bad once we started hiking and the kiddos did not mind. Also looking back to a year ago, we had already started hiking and wanted to get the kiddos ready for hiking during Spring Break. Our plan is to explore Shenandoah National Park, so if any of you have ever been and have any suggestions, please let me know.
The main parking lot has this nice big map. There is also a kiosk that has maps for you to take that shows the many trails to explore.
Below is the map we got. We started at the parking lot on the left side of the map (gray box with P) and began hiking on the red trail, or Stuart-Coventry View trail and made our way to the green, James Sayen Trail that took us hiking around the main lake.
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The weather was still pretty cold and part of the trail had some icy spots but the kiddos did great.
The kiddos see the lake and of course want to throw rocks onto it. Only trick is that the lake is frozen! They still throw rocks and try to break it open, but no luck. ;)
There are some cute bridges along the trail. This is one of them.
The lake is man made and back in the 19th Century, it was used to make blocks of ice.
If you hike with kids, always make sure you have snacks and drinks in case they get hungry or thirsty.
It is nice that they have kiosks with information along the hike about the lake and it's surroundings.
Overall, the hike was great especially for a hike in the snow. I'm excited to see how it will look come spring (if it ever comes) without the snow. It is perfect for kids. The kiddos did great walking the whole trail and enjoyed playing around. It will be fun to explore the other trails too. We knew it was a great hike when on the car ride home, our 4 year old said "that was fun" without us even asking what he thought of the hike. Hubby and I looked at each other and just smiled. :)
Do you enjoy hiking?
