Pike Island

For our second field trip day of the year we took a hike around Pike island, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. The day was a little cooler than we had thought, and the trail was a little longer, but it still ended up working out just fine. It was a VERY different adventure than our previous hiking trip. At Hidden Falls, the "off-trail" exploration was a big part of the draw. Here, we were not supposed to go off the marked trails.

However, we inadvertently took the wrong trail starting out, so instead of ending up on the loop that wraps the perimeter, we started on one that heads down the center, and, we learned, is marked "the winter trail." Oops.

Our guess is that the winter trail is not under water in the winter. Or it doesn't matter because it's frozen. But, it WAS under water when we were there this week! So we had to go off trail a little bit to get to higher ground and pick up the path on the other side of the (huge) puddle. Owen and Leah took a moment to climb out into this park bench which is surrounded by water.

Coming back onto the path, the beauty of this pristine, leaf-carpeted avenue was just delightful!

Along the way, we saw a number of deer. It was surprising how unbothered they were by our presence. They did not approach at all, but neither did they run away immediately. And, I can tell you, it's not because of our amazing woods-person skills. There's nothing like a herd of kids calling to one another to, "Be quiet!" and, "Step carefully!" "Don't scare the deer!!!" to throw off the silence of the woods. But there they are - three of them, off to the left in this photo. (But you might not be able to zoom in enough to see them.)

Mom: Look! There's a deer!

Gloria: Where is the goat? I want to see the goat!

Mom: It's a deer.

Gloria: I LOVE goats!

We thought this neat old tree looked like a small house for some little forest creature - lots of scope for imagination.

And once we got off the winter trail onto the regular trail, we were by the WATER! This is, of course, what Reuben skipped school to come along for!

This (below) is my favorite picture from the day. How cool to have a big brother strong enough to give you a shoulder ride!!

Together is riding on Daddy's strong shoulders

And feeling as tall as a tree.

It's going exploring and having adventures

And sharing new things that you see.

 ~from Together, one of Reuben's favorite books.

And while the first little tree you saw was a perfect critter house, this one is big enough for a whole person...or two...to fit inside!

We kept debating if we should keep going - it's a long hike - but we ended up making it all the way to the tip where we could see the different colored waters from the Minnesota and the Mississippi merging together at the tip of the island.

On the way back along the south side of the island, we came across this pool in the inner portion of the island - still and smooth as glass! Rinnah and I had been talking about mirrors in physics earlier in the week, and this was a perfect illustration of how something (1) smooth, (2) reflective, and (3) flat can make a mirror.

On the home stretch - cool tree on the left has a window in it! It's completely grown together both below and above the narrow slit. I love how most of the kids have sticks.What's a walk in the woods without a few sticks!!

from google maps - the different color of the two rivers is very apparent in the aerial view