The stress of life has been building up so it was time to release it. The kids didn't have school today so we packed up our gear and headed to the local Metropark. We arrived and were the only ones there (or so we thought). Just as we were leaving the parking lot a guy walked by. There was no other cars there so I kept an eye on him wondering where he came from and where he was going. We went the opposite direction and I saw him make his way around the other side of the small lake. But as we got around to that side he was gone and must have went off trail through the woods. He wasn't dressed for the outdoors (just jeans and a heavy coat) so I figured he probably lived somewhere behind the park and walks in the back way to enjoy the park, but I just didn't feel comfortable not knowing where he was so we just continued around the lake to the car and left. We drove to another larger park nearby. We took another short hike to a little picnic paviliion that had a built in fireplace. I made a fire and heated up some hot cocoa for the kids. We sat around the fire and ate some snacks. The kids ran around and I enjoyed the fire a little longer. Then we packed up,put out the fire and headed back to the car and headed home. Here's some pics: Hiking around the lake at the first park Hiking around lake at second park Pavilion where we had our fire Gear loaded up (kneeling pad is wrapped around my hawk head because I dont have a sheath for it) Gear all laid out (listed below) Fieldline Tactical Backpack...It was a cheap buy for a bag I can toss around and not worry about messing it up (it's comfortable but already falling apart) Maxped 10x4 bottle holder with solo cook kit (didn't feel like getting it all out...will post more photos of that kit later in the cook kit thread) The green Sea-To-Summit bag is my shelter kit--hammock, 10x10 tarp from Amazon and an assortment of stakes,cordage and ridgelines Maxped Beefy Pouch contains a survival kit and redundancy Red pouch is first aid and little black pouch is a tool kit Pathfinder Bush Pot (this was its first time being used over fire) and a waxed canvas sack 2 sets of Sprongs, my Ti Spoon and my Ti Emberlit Guyot bottle with PM Expat Sticker (Expat knives sticker on reverse side) Kneeling pad CRKT Woods Chogan Hawk (love this thing) ESEE 5 Becker BK14 with clear kydex and Krytoglow scales Arthos Knives 4" Survival Knife (review coming very soon) My ESEE firekit was still in the bag GettingPrepped Getting Started The tools wanted to be photo'd more while the water was heating up Hot Cocoa and Snack Time The kids had a great time and wanted to go again tomorrow (not happening lol). I'm hoping this is the first of many trips to report for this year... thanks
Yes it's the Limited Edition Hello Kitty Run. The sad thing is her pack is probably made better than mine. Lol
Man it's great to see you getting them out at such a young age.... Thanks for posting and sharing your experience!
Hear you 5x5 on that. Had a 20$ wallyworld job that got chunked,dropped,dragged and dunked for 10 dang years before the first stitch would come loose
Wow. They don't make them like that....mine had loose stitching before I took the tags off lol....its been on 2 big outings and is already showing signs of failure
Thankfully no. Lol. There aren't a lot of really rural places to go that aren't privately owned near me unless I drive over an hour. (That I know of) The local metropark system is actually a great program that Toledo does (Imho one of the only things they do right). A handful of the parks offer tent only overnight camping with firewood provided for 20 bucks. This particular park is 20 minutes out of town and happens to be the park where my boys did their first and only overnighter a few years ago...Its also the largest park at 5k acres....The city just acquired another piece of property a few miles away from this park and has some pretty awesome plans for it. They hired Pete Nelson from the tv show Treehouse Masters to design a treehouse for the park. I've heard it's going to have plumbing for flushing toilets and running water and will sleep like 6 to 8. There is also plans for a couple tent platforms to be built in the trees as well. Pete designed it and the park employees and volunteers are gonna build it all. I'm definetly looking into getting involved so that I can get some early access
Good stuff man. Get them out when they're young, and they'll want to be outdoors. My son did so much, he moved to Colorado to be in the mountains.
