Hiking with Crinkleroot

The temperatures had been hovering in the low teens for what seemed like weeks. It kept our outings limited to visiting other indoor locations or exploring only as far as the yard (which has hosted the Himalayas for equally as long so it's been a good place to explore, especially for my little Panda). We've been playing a lot of games, reading a lot of books, dabbling in  art, flying around the house performing magic; Winter hibernation doesn't have to mean boring.

Now, though, the sun has been out for days, for longer than it seems we've seen it all winter in fact. The Himalayas are starting to look more like the rolling landscape of Vermont and my Panda is increasingly disappointed by his habitat loss. The best thing about this weather, aside from the warm sun flooding our front room every evening and Jon getting home before dark, is the hiking situation: with compacted snow covering what will soon be muddy fields there are animal tracks to be found everywhere, and it's warm enough to go looking for them. There's rain lurking around the corner and with rain the opportunity will be lost, so, with Crinkleroot's Book of Animal Tracking tightly in tow, we took to the fields adjacent to our neighborhood and discovered far more than just our own hearts thankful for signs of thaw.

We've been tracking before. Calvin's pretty familiar with the tracks of humans, dogs, and deer. He found lots of deer tracks today.

A deer path through the stream.

And a new treat, raccoon tracks.

And we listened for birds.

We found chickadees (and heard all three calls)

And a tufted titmouse.

When we go home he was eager for some hot tea and a chance to get it all down in his journal.

Now we're ready for the rain threatening the rest of the week, and maybe for a return of the rain boots.

I've linked up to Nature Connections, a link party for nature lovers. Come join the fun!

Comments

[Hege]

Great pictures!
We love to look for tracks when we go hiking too :)

[MJ]

Looks like a wonderful time :) and I love his drawings of you two on the side of the hill!

[Phyllis at All Things Beautiful]

The photo of him bending down to point to the track is so precious!! I love the journal. What a lovely nature walk. What is the red organizer-type thing that is in the photo of him working on his journal? It looks interesting.

[Secret Mom Thoughts]

very cool that he knows how to track. great activity.

[cortneyandjon]

Phyllis, the red organizer is a Wonder File, my first ever "as seen on TV" purchase! https://www.buywonderfile.com/
We use it to store all the materials we're talking about currently (books, drawings, writing utensils, printouts, extra paper, etc.) and it folds up neatly and has a handle so we can take it with us wherever we go. I love it! We got ours from Office Depot.

[Sherry @ living and learning]

Oh, I love this post! The first pic of him heading out on a tracking mission with book underarm, the one of him pointing to the track, and the nature journal! Aaaahh...good food for my soul. Thanks so much for linking. :)