When parents take their kids out hiking it can be a lot of fun or it can be challenging. Oftentimes the difference between a great day in the Rocky Mountains and an unpleasant one simply rests with the parent’s attitude. Continue reading
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Fun Hikes with Kids in Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City is a big city with the best, yes I said best, access to the Rocky Mountains of any of the major cities in the Western United States. As such there are a lot of fun hikes with kids around Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake is surrounded by mountains – the Wasatch Front is to the east, the Oquirrhs to the west, and to the north and south are small ridges that come down from the main part of the Wasatch. All of these mountains have trails that are fun to explore. Some of them are along creeks and others head to a lake.
Here are some of my favorite hikes to go on with the kids Continue reading
Common Amphibians of the Rocky Mountains
Amphibians live all over the world. Most live in warm, moist habitats near ponds and streams, but some live in grasslands or deserts. There are nearly 4,000 kinds of amphibians in the world, with about 15 in the Rocky Mountains. Continue reading
How Do Rainbows Form?
I love to look out over the Rocky Mountains after it has been raining. The air seems so clear and crisp. I feel as if I can see forever. I especially like when I a storm has passed over and I can look off in the distance and see a rainbow in the sky. There is something so magical about a rainbow. It is so fleeting, so surreal almost as if it is not real. If you look away and look back it may be gone already.
I know that rainbows form when there is rain or clouds in the sky and sunshine, but I was wondering how exactly do they form? Continue reading
A Parent’s Bag of Tricks – For Hiking With Kids
Over the years my owners have created a ‘bag of tricks’ that they take with them whenever they go hiking with their kids in the Rocky Moutains. I don’t know why they say they have a bag of tricks because in all the time we have spent outdoors I have never seen them open up an actual bag and pull out any tricks.
Sometimes when the kids are gone I hear them talking to each other about their ‘bag of tricks’. My best understanding is that their ‘bag of tricks’ is a number of things that they have to keep the kids entertained or moving on the trail. They seem to pull them out when the kids are getting bored on the trail and don’t want to keep hiking or when the kids begin to get grouchy. Continue reading
How Long Does It Take A Spider To Spin a Web?
It is always fun to be the first one up in the morning to be hiking along a trail in the Rockies. You are the first one there to wander along the trail and discover what happened to the area during the night.
Well, at least it is mostly fun. As a short dog I am able to run around and under things pretty easily. But, sometimes when I am the first one on the trail and I run or jump along I do have the misfortune of running into a spider web. It is always a weird feeling to be running along happily one minute and then the next minute to have a sticky web draped across my face.
I just don’t understand how that web gets there? How can there be a spider web across the middle of a hiking trail? That got me wondering how long does it take a spider to spin a web? Continue reading
What Animals Hibernate?
I know that a lot of animals disappear during the winter, but I wasn’t sure how many of them stay in the Rocky Mountains and hibernate versus how many of them simply go somewhere else. So, I decided to do a little bit of research (which is super hard when you only have paws and no fingers to work a keyboard, but I managed to do it). Continue reading
You Don’t Need To Be An Expert
One thing that I have learned in my wanderings with my owners is that parents don’t need to be experts in order to share the natural world with their children. Of course, it helps if those parents know a little bit, but that honestly does not matter. Continue reading
Do Bees Die After They Sting You?
If a bee stings you it will die.
If you are at all like me, then you have heard someone say this before. But, that is not actually true for most bees. There are about 25,000 different kinds of bees in the world with about 4,000 in the USA and even fewer in the Rocky Mountains. Of all those different kinds of bees, there is only one kind that dies after it stings you – the honey bee. Continue reading
What is the Difference Between a Frog and Toad?
Ribbit. Ribbit.
I know that is the sound a frog makes. At least I think it is a frog. I guess it could be a toad. Here in the Rocky Mountains we do have both frogs and toads.
A frog or a toad…I know they are two different kinds of animals, but they are really similar. I do remember that in one fairy tale the prince gets turned into a toad and stays that way until his true love give him a kiss. Or is it a frog that he gets turned into? Continue reading