Category Archives: Hiking

Camping, Hiking, Parks

Alabaster Caverns State Park ~Freedom, OK

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On the way to Alabaster Caverns State Park from Pawnee just happened to be Gloss Mountain!

This is one of my favorite spots in Oklahoma so of course I decided that we needed to get out and stretch our legs there!

Quick stair climb to the top and you can see for miles!

That is my idea of a great travel break!

When we got to our spot at the park I was a bit worried.

Although it was nice and close to the bathrooms and playgrounds (a really nice thing for 6 kids), it was also right next to the main park road and visitor center.

This is a very small park so there are not many options but this time it worked out okay since we were the ONLY PEOPLE STAYING AT THE PARK!

Thankfully their were very few visitors also because I felt a bit like we were in a fishbowl when anyone else was there.

I would not want to stay in this spot in the summer when it is filled with people.
Because we were right next to the visitor center it was really easy to go on the first cave tour of the day!

Which means it was only 5 kiddos and me(Nick stayed back with our youngest) with the tour guide.

I was not sure how interesting the tour would be(especially since I DO NOT like caves) but it was actually really fun!

We saw hundreds of bats!

A lot of them were super close also!

One entrance is not open right now so instead of going through the whole cave you go part way and turn back.

But the kids did not seem to mind because we got to see the bats again!

They were definitely the star of the show.

They got more snow than we did so there was still a lot of snow on the trails! There is not very much hiking available here because it is such a small park so keep that in mind.

And some of the trails might be short but they have steep drop offs, which are even more interesting when it is covered in snow and mud.

We had trouble finding one or two of the trails and I am not sure if that is due to poor trail markings or just being harder to see in the snow. These views were worth all the extra work though!

Such a pretty place!

 

The playground was a big hit and really helped keep the kids entertained. It always helps to bring a friend also 😉

 

One of the things I ended up loving about this park was it’s small size.

I felt like I could watch the sunset from this beautiful lookout while still keeping an eye on the kids.

Win win
I walked over to this spot over and over while we were there.

So peaceful(even with my wild kids screaming in the background).

My spot 😉

Western Oklahoma will always have a special place in my heart.

The wide open landscape always brings me peace and a smile.

Camping, Hiking, Parks

Cove Lake Recreation Area -Paris, Arkansas

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We really enjoyed Cove Lake Recreation Area campground in western Arkansas! It was really close to Mount Magazine and had several trails at the campground also.
The sites do not have electric and there are vault toilets just fyi.
It does have a small swing set at the campground!
The only thing that caused more planning and work was the water was turned off at the campground for the winter which I thought might be the case so I did bring several gallons but ended up needing more.
We enjoyed the hike around cove lake. It was around 4 miles and had beautiful views of the lake and lots of pine trees. So pretty.
We hiked to top of Signal Hill the first night we were there because the sky was clear and I wanted to make sure we saw all the views right away just in case it was cloudy the rest of the time.
Two out of the three previous trips here had been cloudy and we could not see anything.

I was totally blown away on this trip and fell in love with this beautiful park.

I love this Eastern Benefield Trail that we took on the last day. Beautiful views!
Lots of steep cliffs though so you might not want to take really little ones on this one.
Sunrise rock
We drove over an hour to visit two other state parks one day while in the area.

Pretty sure the kids favorite was the Bear Cave Trail at Petit Jean State Park.

It has lots of rocks and is short, all things they like.

Next up we hiked to the Rock House Cave from the waterfall overlook. This was a long and totally unneeded hike since you can park really close to it. My girls insisted they wanted to hike. ha

They were less enthusiastic when they found out they had to hike back also and could not take the “short way” back. After a lot of steps going up and down we did make it back though.

We also did a trail at Mount Nebo but it was a lot of steps after a long morning of up and down hiking and the spring was kind of anti- climatic for so much work.

I have loved the hiking on a previous trip so I know we just chose the wrong hike at the wrong time.

We started out on the Rim Trail which is one that was a favorite on a previous trip. The kids heard it was longer and said they wanted to do the hike down to the spring.

But this was the trip down…

Ha!

Mount Magazine at sunset!

Camping, Hiking

Ludington Point State Park and Tahquamenon Falls State Park ~Michigan

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I convinced my husband to take the really long way to Minnesota!

We drove up through Michigan, including the whole upper peninsula!

I had never been up their before and it was beautiful!!!

It was also our first time tent camping with 5 kids!

So of course it rained!
First stop was Ludington State Park and a very wet dinner.

Thankfully it stopped pouring before dark so we could get the tent set up.

Our site was a bit wet but thankfully we found a dry spot for the tent. This sight was breathtaking though!!!

Lake Michigan at sunset!

The next day was warm and sunny so the walk to the lighthouse before we left was actually nice. They have a nice walking path that goes back to it so it is a pretty easy walk. It was a bit of a stressful walk due to our dog not being well trained and lots of people and dogs on the trail.

But at least we have this smiling pic.

ha

Lake Michigan is so pretty!!!

We packed up and headed north to Paradise, MI and more rain!

I am thinking that the next tent camping trip will feel easy without worrying about setting up and tearing down in rain.

That being said, our campsite was beautiful!

We did not stay at Tahquamenon Falls because it seemed pretty full when I looked online.

So I found a forest campground nearby that was rustic but perfect!

This little stove worked great!

I brought my big pot to cook with though, that little pot would not fit all the food my family requires…

Thankfully we did have a few dry spells that felt pretty idyllic. 

Tahquamenon Falls was beautiful!

And I loved all the boardwalks! Highly recommend!
The trees were so beautiful also! We did the upper and lower falls and I really enjoyed both.

The next day was cold and rainy again so we drove around.

We drove out to whitefish point and the shipwreck museum but did not go in.

My kids spotted a sign for a cranberry farm and insisted we get some!

I had never been to a cranberry farm before so it was interesting to see, although a bit too wet to walk around.

We found a nice spot to check out Lake Superior from a different side(we have been to the Minnesota side before). We were planning on driving to Porcupine Wilderness and camping one more night but they were calling for another 10 degree drop in temp and snow!

So we headed to Minnesota a day early and got to enjoy what would have closed down the state in Oklahoma…