Hiking like a girl

Sometimes, the way to experience an adventure to its fullest is through the eyes of a child. And though I have been told I sometimes act like a child, this is a recounting of time spent with actual verifiable children. 12 year old children to be specific. My daughter, Lilli, along with her sister and 2 of their friends wanted to go hiking, so Huffygirl and I took them to Mueller Park in Bountiful to do just that. To be clear, there was some hiking that went on. But there were so many other side trips and activities that it’s kinda hard to pinpoint the actual trail traveling.

The stream was the magnet immediately upon our arrival. Crossing it on a log at first, then finding good crossing rocks down the stream. At one point, someone needed to use a bathroom which was across the stream from where we were at the moment. There was a beautiful wood and steel bridge right in front of us that majestically traversed the 15 foot wide stream as part of a wide and well-marked path to the park bathroom. The girls were not able to see the bridge that was 20 feet from them and must not have heard me over the sound of the rushing water. One of the friends (referred to forthwith as Wild Girl, or WG) was semi-carefully looking for good rocks to cross on. I was a little nervous because there really weren’t enough rocks at this point and I wondered if we would have to go home if someone got a toe wet or something. Suddenly WG’s foot slipped and went into about 6 inches of water. There was immediate laughter and then the other foot went in and she simply sloshed across the stream as happy as could be. WG was followed into the creek by the other friend, who would take upon her the nickname of Trippy Girl (TG) on this trip and they headed off to the bathroom together. Lilli and her sister (LS) worked hard to pick a better path to get across. Though they came close, in the end, 8 pairs of shoes were soaked and we hadn’t even started the hike yet!

Real hikers - no posers here!!

Huffygirl works with preschoolers and she told me the kids in her classes had nothing on these 4 pre-pubescents when it came to being busy. Here is a list of just some of the activities we found ourselves observing or sharing in during this 2 hour “hike”:

- Climbed atop a giant boulder and posed for pictures.

- Scrambled up a hillside and found a skull of a carnivore. Had to keep it. In the trunk it went.

- Also found a dried out husk of corn. Had to keep it too, but it got dropped and it broke apart (so sad).

- The gate to the trail had an opening for hikers. This was ignored and climbing and squeezing through and over the gate ensued.

- Found a 12 inch pipe shooting a large stream of water into the creek. Lilli asked if she could stand on it. I said yes and TG also balanced with her. Didn’t look very exciting to me but they seemed pretty pleased.

- Found pretty rocks in freshly-graded sections of the road. Pockets were filled.

- Pretty gold flakes were found in the road. Spent several minutes collecting.

- Found several piles of elk scat. Garnered lots of attention.

- Lilli started crossing the stream on a narrow, not so sturdy log. Turned around when she found nothing to hold onto. The log was about 6 feet over the stream. I felt good about that decision.

- Found hiking sticks halfway through the hike. One was at least 5” in diameter. Funny girls.

- Climbed around on a little diversion dam. Threw rocks into the water. Tried to get me wet.

- WG scrambled into a clearing on a hill while the others pointed out a sign that said to keep off the hill. Something about a reclamation project - they asked me what it meant. I told them it was where they recycled used clay. They thought that was cool.

- After turning around, they stopped at the elk scat piles and squished them all with their hiking sticks. I told them that the sticks were not going in the car.

- We skipped rocks in the little diversion dam, which was no more than 30 feet across. I tried to teach 2 of the girls how to skip rocks. Eventually I just had them skip rocks across the road. It was easier and they were happy.

- An anthill in the road found large cylindrical wood things attacking their colony. They ran around in confusion.

Disrupting McDonald's customers at the post-hike meal...

At one point there was a split in the trail where one path took the girls up a short rocky wall. We met them 50 feet along the trail where they had to slide down a steep section to get back to the main trail again. I positioned myself so as they slid down, I helped them onto the level part of the trail. LS took this as a challenge to take out Huffyman once and for all. She was the last one down and slid directly into me, which then caused my feet to fall over the trail lip and toward the angry raging river below. I tried to push LS up as I went down but to no avail. As my life flashed before my eyes (wow, I really did some dumb things!) and little girl screams filled the air, my feet caught onto a root that crossed the face of the slope and we stopped sliding. I stopped screaming. Saved by a root! On the return trip, when we reached this spot in the trail, the girls giggled and I heard whisperings of “Scream, Huffyman, scream…” Huffygirl held my hand – not to keep me from falling but just because she wanted to at that very moment. All was good.

The hike ended at the parking lot where our little car patiently waited. The trunk was filled with a skull, pretty rocks and 2 walking sticks that I was assured had not been in contact with elk poop. The ride to drop off the girls was very giggly, as most of the afternoon had been. If there is anything that can remind you of the amazing variety of interesting activities and side-trips that exist on a very normal looking trail, it’s a small group of 12 year old girls!