One of the problems with a one-way hike, i.e. start at point A and end at point B is that unless you live at one of those points you need transportation to and from. Without kids, it is easily solved -- you and your hiking buddy meet at point B, shuffle one of your cars to point A, and off you go! At the end, you reverse everything and go on your merry way. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, as my 5yr would say.
Now add kids in. Kids with carseats. Kids who are too small to be left unsupervised at a trailhead. Hmmmm, trickier, huh?
Enter the chase car! One non-hiking-driver meets you at the trail end. If you are a solo adult with kids, he or she drops you off at point A and picks you up at point B. If more than one car was needed to get everyone to point A, then you'll have to do some shuffling and of said adults to get everyone back to the trail head. I figured this all out this morning while waiting for the 5yo's bus to arrive to take her to her last day of Kindergarten (sniff, sniff).
So, since today was one of those rare days when both my husband and I were off, I decided to get some dirt under the girls' shoes and hike part of the Elephant Swamp Trail. We had already hiked one part of it briefly a few weeks ago (the bit from the trail head at Elk Rd./CR 538 in Elk Twp.) for about 30min to get a feel for the markings, trail conditions, etc. The other day I did reconnaissance for the Rt 40 end of it, and was lucky enough to encounter a couple walking out at the end. They gave me a bit more info about the trail (thanks again anonymous hikers!) and suggested this last leg of the trail was best suited to new hikers.
After the girls all got home from The Last Day of School (cue: fanfare and cheers), we offered the plan to hike this leg and they were very excited. Over an hour later, with several changes of clothes, bathroom trips, and fussing about icky bug repellent, we were on our way! The Wonderful Husband dropped us off at the trail break on Monroeville Rd/CR 604, wished us well, and went on to wait for us at the trail end on Rt 40. Overall, it went better than I expected, especially on the whining front. This trail is very mixed age/ability friendly, because is it very straight and flat, giving you a long line of visibility. This part of it is also pretty wide, has a few benches along the way, and several imagination-prompting natural occurrences like a huge patch of ferns on one side of the trail, an area where several tall, straight-trunked trees grew close to the path together forming a natural "gateway" if you squint hard enough, and of course the swamps/ponds you walk past. Most of it is shaded, too -- important when you are as fair-skinned as we are. I wasn't planning on "vetting" every trail we hike, but I knew from reading on Traillink.com that some parts of this trail are more user friendly than others.
Unfortunately, I didn't think to take any photos, but there are some in the link of the trail above ;o). Just imagine a 5yo, a 7yo, and 11yo, and a 43yo meandering along in them...
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