Deep River continued...

Sorry about the abrupt stop on the last post! I needed to get to work and then, well, life got in the way. But I'm back to finish about our day :)...
We got to the hike and joined up with our pack - the Garcias, Bolognas, Jeff, Joey, Ben and his grandpa were a GREAT group to walk with. We got the map (oh, boy, a 5-MILE hike! Maybe that was a typo? Um, no) and tried to figure out where we were starting (here's where I started thinking this might be harder than I thought!). We found the start of the path and began our journey. We got about 10 feet when Grace decided she was thirsty. Mom went back to the van to get the water bottles (I had planned for that at least). Dad decided to wait for her. We went around the first bend on the nice, mulched trail. The boys and dads found walking sticks. Then we came to a little creek. It had a piece of wood across it. Everyone slowed down to cross. Oh boy, this might be a rougher trail than I was thinking. AND how is Dad going to cross with his cane? Well, Jack and Grace and the rest of the group got across no problem. When it was my turn, I thought it better to go across and then lift Katie to me. I had Mary in the front sling. Well, one step and I landed in the creek. Thanks to Jeff's quick hands, it was just my foot. He carried Katie across for me, which was a MUCH better idea :). Then we continued on our way. The rest of the first leg was pretty and a easy trail. It even had wooden bridges over the river! (we learned to really appreciate those bridges)

We got to an open field, and I was thinking we were about halfway. Not even close! It was the old saw mill. The kids had a great time climbing all over it. We walked around the gazebo and visitor's center (closed on October 31st - this was November 1st - there went our hope for a "real" bathroom). After a little break and many rocks thrown into the river, we started the next leg. We quickly discovered the terrain was going to get rougher. A couple hours and a few creeks later, we came to another clearing. This time it was a plowed soybean field. That was a neat lesson in nature. I hadn't seen one up close and it was fun explaining to Jack what was in the bean pods. Then we re-entered the woods. It was still so pretty, but Katie was getting a little tired. Mom carried her until we came to another creek. :) All in all, it took about 3 1/2 hours to walk the 5 miles. We were tired and sore when we finished. But it was invigorating! I had such a good time and am so looking forward to going on the next hike and taking the kids on more hikes like this. Just ask Bryan, over a week later, and I am STILL talking about how much fun we had. It was so awesome! The group from our pack was sweet and wonderful and we all stuck together and helped each other and bonded over the mud (yes, we brought home PLENTY of mud!). What was also very cool was the fact that these were Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts from all over -from Cal City to Valpo and everywhere in between, and everyone was helping everyone. And the funniest part was the last leg where we were all dragging a little, but as we rounded the last curve and the PLAYGROUND equipment came into view, every last one of the kids took off and suddenly there was no tiredness, no soreness, no hunger (except among the parents and grandparents!).