Junior Rangers

Spring break was last week and luckily it happened to coincide with spring-like weather. This result was a relatively peaceful family camping trip to the beautiful Marin County coastline. If you have never explored this part of California, you should. It is compact, diverse, remote-feeling and yet still accessible. And best of all, there are many wonderful food and lodging options if say, sleeping on the ground with neighbors unknown and sharing bathroom facilities is not your thing. I’ll warn you now though, camping is a great way to experience this spot and I am partial.

The campground at Samuel Taylor State Park is about as easy a way to be in the redwoods as you could imagine. Apart from its clean, well-appointed, and shaded campsites, there are miles of paved bike trails and more miles of hiking trails that run around the camp. This year we were also treated to the gurgle of a well-fed stream and the chance to spy baby salmon. (We did not see any but the hunt kept the kids entertained.)

This alone was great, but the reason I chose this park was its proximity to Point Reyes National Seashore. Camping in Point Reyes is hard to come by and there are no drive-in campsites. This is a deal breaker for us so we opted for a lovely 6-mile drive between Sam Taylor and the Bear Valley Visitor Center.

A word about the visitor center – Go there. Walk the Earthquake Trail. See the recreated Ohlone Village. Tour the small but thorough displays on the flora and fauna of the area. The park rangers have loads of information on trails, activities, and general recommendations on all things nature-related. The bookstore leans more toward books (shocker!) and field guides than toward souvenirs. Best of all, they are the source for Junior Ranger booklets.

I was turned onto the program by a friend, who traveled through the Zion-Bryce-Grand Canyon area with her family. Never will I visit a National Park without picking up materials so my kids can participate. You get a booklet that has information about the history, geology, ecology, biology, as well as a sprinkle of trivial knowledge about park that is written for the average fifth grader to understand. This translates to a bit of parent involvement but it is worth the effort. Sprinkled throughout the booklet are activities to guide kids while they are in the park and areas for the kids to record their experiences. Once they complete it, they return to the visitor center to have their booklets inspected or to answer some questions (a mild test to be sure). Then they are “sworn in” with an oath to protect the park as Junior Rangers. For their efforts they receive a special iron-on patch. We collect patches in our family so this was a coveted prize.

Oh, and it’s all free.

 

 

 

 

 

You might think that having homework to do on a hike would betray the whole point of being out in nature, but that did not happen. Instead it turned a trip that would usually be fraught with are-we-there-yets and how-much-longers and I’m-hungries into a scavenger hunt. We heard is-that-a-buckeye and I-found-3-kinds-of-flowers as well as I’m-hungry. My daughter took a row of pictures in her booklet and added check boxes so she could mark her finds. My son begged for me to record his finds with my phone camera.

Back at the campground, they worked, with help, on the word search, a crossword puzzle, or drawing pictures to illustrate the answers to their questions in the booklet. My daughter had to bring it into school for show and tell. She wrote three entries in her kindergarten journal about it. My son made connections between the Ohlone information he read in the booklet and learned at the visitor center with the lessons his 3^rd grade class has had throughout the year.

They made connections to place that were larger than a single hike and longer than a few nights camping. There was pride in their accomplishments and an eagerness to explore further. We will return, with friends, so that others can see this amazing place and maybe earn their own badges. Regardless, pick up booklets for your kids. Read it with them if needed. If we can get this generation engaged, our National Parks will be even more special when they turn 200.

My only regret is that we did not have one more night at the campground for down time. After the hike, the kids went into the tent and did not emerge until dinner. One fell asleep. The other made a nest of sleeping mats and blankets and rested his sore feet. After all, one of the best parts of camping is relishing the delicious exhaustion of a day spent exploring the outdoors. Sometimes doing nothing is the best way to experience the world.

 

Trial Run – Pinnacles

Back in January, with 10 days worth of wear on our new vehicle, we set out to test it on a road trip. The destination was Pinnacles National Park, about 2.5 hours south of us. This National Monument-turned-recently-National Park (2013) is known for many cool features including bats, caves, condors and for being split by the San Andreas Fault. It is half of an ancient volcanic field that traveled north 195 miles from its source. The result is towers of basalt rising up to form narrow canyons and a landscape so wholly different from the agricultural lands around it that is seems alien.

The weather was touch and go but we decided to make the drive anyway and take our chances. In the winter, access to the caves is not guaranteed. One set was partially closed for bat protection, so we drove to the lesser-used west entrance to take on the Balcony Caves.

On the ride down we played with the satellite radio (something new for us) and tested the navigation controls. (The adaptive cruise control is the best feature EVER.) “Are we there yet?” rang out about half-a-dozen times and from only one mouth in the back seat so, it was all good.

Starting out on the Balconies Cave Trail – Pinnacles National Park

Once we arrived at the park, we first paid our entrance fee and explored the new visitors center at the west entrance. The kids picked out the items they had to have and we distracted them with thoughts of lunch. It was overcast and warm – perfect hiking weather. The bonus was the rains that pelted most of northern California during the prior week left the streams with running water and the plant life green and inviting.

From experience we knew that pleasant hiking with our children required a pack of snacks and as much possible distraction as possible. Purposely, I held back on some of the items I packed for lunch and recategorized them as snacks. You just never know. Distraction, however, was all around us. The trail was relatively flat, following a narrow canyon between towers of rocks and crossed by a small stream. Rarely could we see more than 50-yards ahead as the trail wound between massive boulders or turned around isocracies in the landscape. The kids wandered ahead of us to discover tiny waterfalls, shallow caves, or various interesting trees.

As we stared to climb over the caves on the trail, my son spotted a small bit of color on the rocks across the canyon. Rockclimbers. From where we stood their ropes were invisible. Real life spidermen (or women, we couldn’t tell) were scaling the face of the rock. We stopped for a snack break and watched. Then we made way too much noise because the echo was amazing in that narrow canyon.

Near the half-way point, still wondering what’s around the bend.

After a couple of miles, we had hiked up and over the caves, and were now ready to enter them as part of our return journey back to the car. The kids donned headlamps and ate another snack, while my husband and I pulled out a couple of flashlights. Now the trick was finding the trail. We knew we were near the caves. The ranger we passed told us. The gate and the many signs warned us as well, but still, there was only a stream running through openings in the rocks. Huh? I guess the stream is the trail?

Just then two men came out from the rocks, trying to avoid getting wet in the stream. Yep! Through the stream. The first casualty was my son. Splash. Wet shoes. He thought it was funny and it was. We climbed, jumped, and lifted each other over the rocks and water, eventually finding the true entrance to the caves.

Thank goodness for the headlamps! The scrambling was no joke and I marveled at the large families with small children making their way through in the direction opposite from us. Most had no flashlights or at best 1 or 2 poor excuses for flashlights. As my 6-year old daughter struggled to climb I watched 2 and 3 year olds being handed down wet rock faces by pre-teens or dads in jeans and t-shirts. Still, they were having a good time and so were we. Until my daughter missed a step. Casualty number 2 – wet and scraped up.

Final snack break.

After climbing up, we entered an open area and there appeared railings to help us with the climb down. The water was not as prominent here but the walls were much closer together. Being smaller, the kids were faster in this section than the adults. Before we knew it, we were back in the light of the canyon, re-tracing our steps on the dogleg back to the parking lot. We stopped for a few more snack breaks along the way and sat to watch others emerge from the caves, or wind their way along the trail.

Heading out, the kids got patches for their collections, and the car got a National Parks Passport to help record future adventures. We also added a pack of playing cars with the constellations and facts on them. As the rain began to pelt the highway on the way home, the kids played cards and we only heard “Are we home yet?” 2 or 3 dozen times. Why can’t they just fall asleep back there?