Tide Pool Hike

A couple days after we got back from our camping trip, Tyler had a 5 mile hike with the 11 year old scouts. The whole family was invited. The scouts had to write down ten plants and ten animals they saw on the hike.

It seemed funny to me that he needed to pass off a 5 mile hike for scouts when he had just hiked all those miles in the redwoods, but we enjoyed the change of scenery. Plus it was fun to hang out with his scout leader and the other family that went.

This was an extension of the Hearst hike we'd done a bunch of times. We didn't know the trail continued on so far. We were in the woods for awhile, and then we came to this beautiful view of the coast.

 You know how the end of the Hearst hike juts out really far? Well this is the other side of it.

Only one other 11 year old (Brock) was able to go. Tyler's scout leader, Brian Kerr (behind Spencer), was just released a couple weeks ago. Now he's the Scout Master, which Spencer's totally excited about. They are planning a really fun trip for next summer.

 Don't you love Levi's duct-taped shoes? They kept falling off on our camping trip.

We hiked down the cliff to the tide pools. We got there pretty close to low tide, so they found a bunch of sea life.

Don't worry, he put it back in the water quick.

Levi was very nervous about the water, so he stayed in the carrier. We were smart and took two this time - Chloe on my back and Levi on Dave's. Somehow Levi got in backwards for a bit. He hiked again once we were far away from the water.

For some reason I told everyone to take their shoes off. Oh yeah, it was because we had to run past a cave between waves to get out to the tide pools, and I didn't want everyone's shoes to get wet. The problem was that it took us forever to get their socks and shoes back on their wet feet. Oh well.

 Spencer, totally in his element.

Tyler will be twelve by next summer, so he'll be able to go on the big scout trip too. They either want to hike up Mount Whitney (the tallest point in the continental U.S.) or do a 50 miler. The more hikes we do between now and then the better!

Sometimes I just can't decide between two cute pictures, so I have to show them both.

I love the lighting outside the cave!

On the way back we stopped at our favorite climbing trees while Spencer looked for a place to hide his geocache. He ended up not leaving it there, though. Instead he placed it close to our house so he can check on it from time to time.

My boys always want me to take their picture while they're climbing trees. The problem is that they are high up and it's kind of hard to see them very well. Plus their faces look funny when they're looking down, and you can't even see how high up they are. I try to convince them to take the pictures from the lower, less exciting branches. It just works better for pictures.

 Apparently we aren't the only ones who like these trees. They had lots of art on them.

 Cute pose! And it even looks like he is really high up in the tree.