Hiking

Family hikes, trails, and walking adventures.

Night Walk in our Neighborhood with Phil and Savannah

Savannah, Phil, and Keith went on a night walk around our neighborhood for about an hour.  We saw some pretty neat creatures. A frog hiding in this plant: A great kiskadee asleep on a branch: A spectacled caiman in the water (its eye is glowing since i have the flashlight

Bogarin Trail, La Fortuna, Costa Rica

Our challenge for the last few weeks was to find a Blue Jeans Frog, which is a type of Strawberry Poison Dart Frog.  I had read of people seeing them at the Bogarin Trail, so when Phil and Nicole asked for suggestions of places we should go, that was at

Night Hike on Tortuguero Island, Costa Rica

When we arrived at Tortuguero Island, we asked the attendant at our hotel about a tour to see the turtles (after all, Tortuguero Island means Turtle Island).  He told us that that are no turtles this time of year.  He said if we returned a few weeks later and looked

Manuel Antonio National Park, Quepos, Costa Rica

This was a super busy national park. We booked a guide, who picked us up at our house, drove us there, and helped us get through the crowds to get tickets. We got up early and got there when it opened, and it was still very crowded. Our guide had

Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve

Up with the sun to go to the Monteverde Preserve. We were there when it opened at 7am and still had to wait in a long line to buy tickets. It was very cool, cloudy and breezy that morning, which was perfect weather for birdwatching. our guide, who brought a

Monteverde Night Hike

Keith, Tucker and Grandpa Knight went on a night hike in the Monteverde area to see some nocturnal creatures. Brown Jay Headlight Click Beetle Side-Striped Palm Pit Viper Orange-kneed Tarantula Nightengale Thrush

Monteverde house and Selvatura Hanging Bridges

Our drive up to Monteverde looked like this; a very windy, dry, rocky road. our airb&b Really cool woodwork in this house, including this bed that has 'fractal woodburning' decorations Coatis would come to visit us in our backyard our balcony overlooked the wooded area where

Going back to La Fortuna and Volcan Arenal

In La Fortuna, playing around with fallen palm fronds. Getting a picture of the volcano. We stayed a couple nights at the same house we rented in January. We went to Caño Negro and the Rio Frio near the border of Nicaragua to go on a river tour. A turtle

Poas Volcano National Park

Volcanologists have created a scale of 1-5 for the status of an active volcano.  A 1 means that it isn't currently showing any signs of activity.  A 5 is actively erupting with lava flowing.  Currently, there are two volcanos in Costa Rica that are a 3 and

Hiking Volcano Rincón de la Vieja, Costa Rica

It's just fun to say that you are on your way to hike a volcano for the day.  Volcán Rincón de la Vieja was our primary reason for going to Guanacaste -- Tamarindo Beach was a nice bonus.  We wanted the family to learn more about Volcanos and to

Lake Arenal

Lake Arenal looked so beautiful at a distance while we hiked near Arenal Volcano, so we wanted to see it up close.  Yesterday we drove to it, hoping for some amazing views.  Instead, we found really windy roads, surrounded by trees that blocked all possible views of the lake.  Well,

Arenal Volcano National Park

As we finished breakfast, six toucans flew up to our house.  An amazing way to start the day.  Despite the overcast, slightly rainy day, we decided to head to Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal (Arenal Volcano National Park).  Clouds are almost always covering the peak of the volcano, for a few

Parque La Sabana - The Central Park of San Jose

The central park of San Jose is called Parque La Sabana, pronounced just like Savannah's name in Spanish.  There were quite a few people riding bicycles and walking through the park.  Some people were playing soccer and there were quite a few street vendors.  Much of the beauty

Playing in the River Machuca

Leaf-cutter ants on the trail we took to get to the river. We heard there were some good swimming holes on the river next to the community we're living in, so we took a trail and found one. Then we took a different trail and found some

Crystal Peak, California

We went on an off-road adventure with Grandma and Grandpa Knight to Crystal Peak, outside of Verdi, in California. The kids are all into minerals and they each found great samples of clear quartz crystals. Looking for the birds. We saw quite of bit of quartz on one of

Oxbow Nature Preserve

We spent our last time with Gene and Bea at the Oxbow Nature Preserve, taking one of the most colorful nature walks you can imagine.  It was gorgeous, especially considering this is in the middle of a desert.

Cub Scout Hike at the Gerry Connolly County Trial

Tucker and Keith went for a hike with the Cub Scouts on the Gerry Connolly County Trail in Fairfax.  Part of the trail runs behind our house, but we went a few miles from our house.  It always amazes me that these beautiful trails are so close to home. It

Capilano Suspension Bridges, Vancouver, BC

North of Vancouver is the Capilano river, surrounded by beautiful evergreen forests. Years ago, lumberjacks built a suspension bridge to cross the river.  Now you can tour the area through a series of suspension bridges connecting tree houses and highlighting the Christmas lights and decorations. Tucker was fearless on the

Historic Alexandria, VA Waterfront

We wanted to go for a walk this weekend, so we drove five miles to the Historic Alexandria Waterfront.  Generally, it was a beautiful and relaxing walk.  The restaurants and shops looked delicious and inviting.   While standing by the pier, we saw a group of about 20 huge catfish and

Natural Bridge, VA

On our way home, we stopped at Natural Bridge. This is a little display right before we got on the trail down to the bridge. After the picture was taken, I heard a couple of girls laughing about 'blah blah slaveowners!' That's all it's

Rock Creek Gardens

We went for a walk around the neighborhood this evening and saw the Rock Creek Gardens -- a community garden area.  There were so many varieties of flowers, vegetables, and herbs growing.  Despite the rabbit fencing around most of it, we saw several small rabbits hopping around enjoying the feast.  Adjacent

carson

Walking around the neighborhood

We went for a walk through the neighborhood this afternoon and caught this candid picture.

Exploring Rock Creek Park

We are temporarily staying in an Airbnb in DC.  So our first weekend here, we went for a walk in Rock Creek Park - about 1 short block from our place.  It has beautiful trails and streams.   Is this how you imagined the middle of Washington DC?

The Creek

Carson took these pictures during the recent walk to the creek The lean-to the kids put together the bridge

Mulching the Trails at Hidden Oak Park

The kids and I went to Hidden Oak Nature Park to look at the animals.  While there, we asked if they needed help with anything (Carson needs to do community service for a merit badge).  They said that the trails needed some mulch put on them to slow the erosion.