Tag Archives: Tips & Tricks

Marking trees were made long ago by Native Americans as trail markers. There are lots of trees out there that look like marking trees, but odds are very few of them are “real”. Still, they are fun to look for, and you’ll find lots of trees with cool shapes in the process.

While on our hikes we love to look for strange things in the woods. Some of our favorites are a flip-flop tree (flip flops have been nailed to the tree in various places), abandoned plastic school chairs, old car parts, hunting platforms, shovel parts (common in Easton, known as Shoveltown because of the shovel factory that used to be here), etc. It’s fun to make up stories about how these out-of-place items got to their place in the woods!

There is a lot more information about how to do this on the Geocaching website. But essentially, get yourself a waterproof container, a small notebook to serve as a log, a few pens, and some small trinkets and you have yourself a Geocache. I’d recommend purchasing a travel bug to plant in it as well. Then go find a spot to hide it, log it with the Geocaching website, and it’s good to go!

Map reading and compass skills are important for everyone to know. Relying on a GPS alone for navigation is not a great idea–for numerous reasons. You could also help your kids draw a map of the trail you hike. Include your landmarks and fun things you discovered and then use it the next time you go there!

Kids always seem to love throwing rocks into water. Teach your kids to skip rocks. One of our favorite activities is throwing rocks across semi-frozen water and listening to the interesting sounds it makes. It’s fun and then you can go home and learn some science–Google why those sounds are made when you throw rocks on ice!

One of our best hikes was in May at prime lady slipper time. There were so many in the woods we actually lost count, but not before we got up to almost 100. It was so much fun to look for them, and we didn’t have one complaint from the boys that entire hike.

It’s common to find kindness rocks along trails these days. My kids love finding them. Paint your own and leave them for others to find as you hike the trails!

If your kids like art, take a small light sketch book and some colored pencils and let them stop to draw cool stuff they find along the trail. They could sketch a wild mushroom, make a rubbing of a fern or a leaf, or perhaps even capture the water shining off a pond or a lake. Or collect natural materials for art projects to do at home.

It’s fun to take pictures or videos of your hikes. Let your kids carry the camera. Many of the pictures on this blog were taken by the kids. It keeps them entertained, gives them something helpful to do, and teaches them to hone their eye for a good photo and lighting.

One of the most daunting things for kids when hiking is having no sense of how long the trail is, what a “mile” even means, and how tired they will be when they are done. To give kids a sense of control over the trails, identify landmarks that are fun that will help them remember and break up the trail. That way, if you return again, they will know what to look for. It helps create a way of measuring and understanding the space.