Turkey Run for Noah’s b-day!

To celebrate Noah’s birthday we headed to Turkey Run State Park in Indiana for a day of family fun and enjoying nature. It was ridiculously hot but we still had an awesome time. We just sweated off more weight, which isn’t a bad thing. ;)

Three little kids we found at the picnic area . . .

A malfunctioning water fountain provided lots of fun. 

Can you imagine how wet she got playing in here?

After lunch we ventured on to trail 3 ( the most famous trail at the park). We brought 7 kids, including little Matea on the “rugged” trail. The trail was gorgeous! And rugged . . . and the first part seemed to be only uphill and not walk-able by Matea. Actually, 97 percent of the trail was not walk-able by her and she was carried by Jon and I (hiking in 93 degree heat with ridiculous humidity while carrying a sweaty 2 year old isn’t the most pleasant thing by the way).

Crossing a the bouncy bridge to get to the nature trails.

Yeah, that trail is a little rugged. :)

The trail had a really cool feature which we all loved – a spot called the Icebox. We descended into a little canyon which was cold as a refrigerator! It felt so good! Ice cold air was pouring in to the canyon from a crevice between two tall cliffs. We all took turns cooling ourselves in the frigid air. And it was, as Eli said, “AWESOME!”:)

We’ve got to get down there . . . how?!

WE MADE IT TO THE ICEBOX!

Jeff in the crack (I think I’ve been waiting to write that all my life).

The view looking up from in the Icebox. 

After the icebox, the trail continued on to the ladders section. We went up the ladders, which sounds harder but ended up being easier. And yes, Jon had to carry little Matea up the ladders. It actually wasn’t that hard (says the one who didn’t have to carry her). :)

The kids are up the first ladder (which means now I really have to haul my butt up them too).

Daddy the ladder-climbing pack mule.

Matea’s favorite part – snack! 

Halfway through the trail the kids were done as well as most of the adults, and we met the intersection with another trail which headed back to the parking lot. Jon and I continued on with Nathan, Lori’s Dad, Lori’s sister, and Lori’s niece and her boyfriend, while everyone else took the kiddies back to the picnic area.

Continuing on we hiked in a creek bed and it was just beautiful (my favorite part of the trail). The sun was shining and making the trees and moss on the rocks just glow! We had to do some tricky walking in the water, so the little kids wouldn’t have been able to do that section, and I can’t imagine carrying Matea.  The heat, humidity, colors, and trail reminded Jon and I of hiking in Thailand together pre-kids. Good memories. I was glad Jon and I got the chance to continue on and finish trail 3. :)

The greens of the leaves and the moss was simply breathtaking!

These rocks looked like they were “rippling” from the sun’s reflection in the water.

Nathan at “The Punch Bowl”

Jon re-did this for me so I could take a picture. :) 

Wedge rock – it seems to hang over the trail. Very cool.

Nathan climbed up behind wedge rock (and then had to figure out how to get down).

Matea got slap happy in the air-conditioned car on the way home. I can’t blame her! It felt great after our hot fun day on the trails!

There were even more trails in the park that I’d love to explore – I’m going to put them on our list for next year! :)