RJ Decides to Hike Pimmit Run
Weather: 84 degrees and sunny
Goal: go on the dangerous and rocky part of Pimmit run
Path: random with no plan, 3.6 miles
At breakfast RJ decided that we need to hike at Pimmit Run today. By the time that the Saturday morning cleanup was done, RJ had suggested it 3-4 times. By the time the daily errands were complete he had recruited Julia to second the request.
So at 1pm we started out on a short hike. This was going to be the 'dangerous hilly side' that we were not able to complete the first time. See first Pimmit Run hike.
This time we found a safer route that was actually a trail. After RJ lead the way, we got to the crossroads pictured left. RJ convinced us to cross a stream and head towards Donaldson run. After realizing we were not on a trail anymore, I convinced RJ to turn around (another river crossing).
Back at the crossroads again everybody, except Dad, wanted to go to the overlook ... so we went to the overlook - a dangerous sort of trail. Since Julia got to lead, she scrambled up like she could have scaled Everest.
Soon we realized that the overlook trail was a circle and we were heading back to the crossroads. This time, Dad convinced everybody to head back towards the nature center because we were all sweaty and our water bottles were empty.
The nature center was awesome for several reasons.
- They had a place to refill our water bottles with cold water
- There were snakes, frogs, turtles, and some cool fish that are native to the DC area
- We got to fish with a magnet while sitting in a native American canoe - see picture
The trail to the nature center had 2 stream crossings. The amazing part is that RJ only slipped once and got the outside of one shoe wet.
The biggest challenge on the way home was to keep the tired troops focused and motivated. Loss of motivation would result in Dad having to carry a kid. As you can see to the left, we were quite safe when going down the steep parts.
Some comments regarding the trail map.
- #1 = crossroads sign above
- #2 = realize that the overlook trail is taking us in a circle
- RJ's Idea is where a certain kid abused his leadership role to head us into the forest
- Juila's Idea is where a certain kid decided decided to use her leadership role to hike up a random stairway and cause Dad to pull out his GPS phone.
- #3 = let me know if you can find it anywhere in this map
- #4 = Nature center and water!
- Water icons = stream crossings - we crossed the first one 4 times and the second one 2 times
In the morning, our neighborhood friend Sam has a bounce party at Jumping Joey's in Falls Church. Julia had a good time bouncing and shooting 7 baskets.
Getting a picture of Julia is never easy
A Cars 3 race track cake is always worth a smile
The pinata was the perfect level of challenge ... although due to time constraints, the decorations were a bit flimsy and it was referred to as a wasp's nest. The yellow-green blob heading towards the pinata was hurled with a lacrosse stick ... it missed.
