Beyond the Rockies – Page 3 – rocky mountain tot

Hiking Kessler Mountain Trails in Fayetteville, Arkansas

When I meet people these days I typically ask them about their favorite local restaurants and their favorite places to hike near our new home in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We’ve got a lot of great hiking suggestions, but Kessler Mountain was on the top of many lists. When we were blessed with a warm winter morning, we decided we would seize the opportunity to explore Kessler Mountain Regional Park.

Here is a link to the Kessler Trail map. There are 10 trails in the park with different levels of difficulty.

Kessler Mountain Regional Park in Fayetteville Arkansas. Hiking. — Kessler Mountain Regional Park

We decided to start on the Last Call trail which is 1.2 miles. Portions of the trail were muddy from recent rain, but for the most part we enjoyed good hiking conditions.

Family Hiking trails in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Northwest Arkansas. Hiking.

As first time visitors, we appreciated the directional trail signage.

Last Call and Terrapin Station trails in Kessler Mountain

Hiking with toddlers means exploring every rock, tree and bridge we cross.

The trails were well used by both hikers and mountain bikers. The rule is mountain bikers should yield to hikers, but we definitely kept our eyes and ears open to make sure the girls were safely out of the way. Everyone was very polite and patient with us!

When we reached the end of Last Call, we had a few options. 1. turn around to go back. 2. take a right uphill towards Terrapin Station trail. 3. take a left downhill towards Terrapin Station trail.

Out of curiosity, we headed uphill and found the main reason to continue is to join up with other trails like Crazy Mary. (I was kind of hoping for a lookout, but we didn’t see much besides water towers) So, we turned around and headed downhill on the Terrapin Station trail which is .9 miles. This was our favorite portion of the hike because it felt the most secluded.

Bluffs Fayetteville Arkansas — Awesome bluffs and rock formations

I think winter is a great time to hike because you get great views of bluffs and rocks that you might miss when the trees are thick and green. I also don’t worry as much about snakes, ticks and mosquitoes.

Winter hiking northwest arkansas — These rocks reminded me of the trolls in the movie Frozen. Just me!?

Soon after the trail split between Terrapin Station and Chinkapin Oak, it joined back into the Last Call trail and zig zagged back down to our starting point.

We promised our girls a cookie and play time at the park’s playground as a reward for good behavior on the hike. We were blown away by how great they did. Our four-year-old walked all 2.5 miles on her own! And, our two-year-old walked impressive stretches and rode happily on Dad’s shoulders for the remainder.

playground at Kessler mountain park in Fayetteville arkansas — The playground at Kessler Mountain is a fun outdoor themed space for little ones to climb and slide.

Near the playground, a path connects to the paved Cato Springs Trail which is 3 miles long and joins the Razorback Greenway Trail. (according to an article we found from the Fayetteville Flyer)

I was curious about the unique names of some of the trails in the park and started googling them when we got home. Terrapin Station is the name of a Grateful Dead album. Crazy Mary is a Pearl Jam song. Is this a coincidence? Or, am I starting to figure out the theme? If someone knows the answer, please share!

Now that we’ve been to Kessler Mountain Park, I can see why others recommended it. We can’t wait to go back and explore more of the trails.

Overland Park Farmers’ Market

On our trip last month to California our family spent a wonderful day in Folsom which is located in Northern California between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe on the American River. Folsom is known for it’s prison, but we spent our time hiking along the river and strolling through the city’s farmers’ market in the quaint historic downtown. My aunt bought Cecy a gorgeous handmade basket for our market trips back home.

This weekend we had family visiting us, so we planned a little adventure to our local farmers market in Overland Park, Kansas. The markets’ season just started in April, but the vendors were ready to go with gorgeous displays of fresh flowers, fruits, vegetables, juices, grass-fed meats and more. Tucked back behind Metcalf between 79th and 80th streets, the market is bigger than we expected and has a great community feel.

Cecy’s basket got filled with fragrant fresh rosemary and flowers. We also purchased red potatoes, spinach and a loaf of bread for our dinner.

Our First Hike with Hike it Baby – Kansas City

Yesterday Cecilia and I went on our first hike with Hike it Baby. I’m so glad my friend told me about this group. They are a nonprofit organization dedicated to getting young families outdoors. They have branches in nearly every state.

We met at local coffee shop called The Roasterie in Leawood, Kansas and headed down 119th Street to hop on the Tomahawk Creek Trail. There were 7-8 friendly moms all pushing strollers, so we went at an adult’s pace but stopped a couple of times when our little ones needed some extra attention.

We eventually took a break from walking to let the kids burn off energy at a nearby playground before heading back to our starting point. Cecy and I both had a lot of fun and look forward to our next hike!

Morning Hike in Point Lobos Park, California

Last week we took a trip to California to visit family. One of the highlights of our trip was a morning hike we took in Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. We spent the night in nearby Monterey, CA and ‘benefited’ from the two hour time difference that had us awake around 5:30 AM. The reserve is open from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM. As one of the first cars through the gates, we easily found a parking spot near Bird Island Trailhead on the south end of the park. We passed by the park entrance several hours later and the parking lots were completely full.

California Crown Jewel
I read that Point Lobos is the ‘crown jewel’ of California Park systems, and I can see why. We started at the Bird Island Trailhead, and walked the .8 mile round-trip loop. Our 16 month old Cecilia refused to get inside her Ergobaby carrier, so we couldn’t make the hike long. Lucky for us, we didn’t have to go far to see gorgeous ocean vistas, beautiful woods, sea life and private sandy beach coves.

Pacific waves crashing against rocky shores

We took a quick drive to the other side of Point Lobos park by Whalers Cove to enjoy the forest and gorgeous ocean views. We could have spent all day at Point Lobos, but we continued our adventure by driving on scenic Pacific Coast highway 1 to beautiful Morro Bay for more family fun. Topping off an already great morning, Cecy napped during the whole drive down which basically made this the perfect road trip in my book. Yay!