Chris, my sister and I took the kids hiking on December 22 to our new favorite place – Hughes Mountain! It’s just past Potosi and SO worth the drive! This was our second time (I’ll post photos from the first time soon because we had a second adventure that day too involving some alpaca! HA!) and we will for sure go back one day.

Gray and Avery are best buds!

When we hike with our kids we let them run ahead, explore off the path (only in winter when we can 1. see them and 2. there isn’t poison ivy), be loud and carefree BUT we also encourage them to slow down, feel the moss, climb trees, flip over logs to look for bugs, etc. Truly SEEING the nature around them in the midst of their playtime is important to us – having my sister along is the best though because she’s a naturalist and actually knows what we’re looking at and feeling!

Hughes Mountain is so unique – it an ancient volcano and the geometric rocks are the lava. It’s breathtaking!

My favorite part of this hike is the top – we had the kids sit for a few minutes in silence to really take in the views (360 degrees!). I hope they remember these days.

Me and Abbie! I’m actually in a photo!!!

The kids built a cairn – we did this last time too!

Chris decided to play hide and go seek with the kids and I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard….

he stood on top of those rocks with Abbie literally directly below him – he looked RIGHT AT HER and didn’t see her! She was the last one he found I think and when he was in a different spot I had to snap a pic of her hiding b/c she really did blend in! HA! It was hysterical!

After we hiked down the sun was setting but we had heard from someone local that there were some old growth trees nearby so we decided to stop there on the way home. The trees did not disappoint once we found them! HUGE Burr Oaks!