A Discovery Hike-for Granddaughters

The ripened seeds of a prairie plant called for close examination.

There were four of us that day. Three grand-daughters and one grandpa on a hike. Not a walk, there was exercise, but this was more than a walk. Think of it as a discovery hike. A hike where discoveries are expected. Every discovery hike can have two purposes. First, that hikers see the majesty and wonder of creation and realize God is the Maker of all. Second, understanding God is seeking every day to be reconciled to those who sin-including me and you. How does a discovery hike show us God desires reconciliation with us? Because discovery hikes show every one on the hike the love of God in creation. God’s love contains a boatload of reconciliation. Need an example? Try the whisper of wind in Cottonwood leaves.

There were four of us that day. You should know about this. You can do this. You can take those you love, and your friends and neighbors on discovery hikes. Discovery hikes are not only for kids. Adults benefit greatly from them. They see the hand of God. The feel the love of God. They exercise their physical bodies. And nature nurtures the soul of everyone involved. So, grandpa got to go on a discovery hike with 3 of his grand-daughters. Read about what happened. The purpose of retelling this true-life event is to encourage you to take discovery hikes with your family. Again, take them with your friends and neighbors. You can show them the hand of God.

Before we retell the events of that discovery hike, you need to know a fact. You do not need to know anything about nature. Did you really just read that? Repeat, you do not need to know anything about nature. What you need to know is simple. You need curiosity. You need to seek to discover things as you hike-things you would not see if you stayed indoors. Look for things in nature that surprise you. The tools you need God has given: sight, hearing, touch, smell-and sometimes taste. You can lead your family and others with the tools and knowledge you already have. God has given you all of them. As you use them on discovery hikes you will find these tools work with increasing efficiency. You can.

There were four of us that day. One of tall in height, one medium, and one shorter, and lastly one bald, tall and gray some places. There is a coulee of the Missouri River behind the girl’s house.  It has steep tree-covered slopes.

At the bottom there is small flow of water during wet times and when it rains. It is one of many coulees along the “big muddy” flowing through the middle of North Dakota. A surprising population of wild things find the coulee to be just right habitat. White-tailed deer are there. Coyotes occasionally trot through. On the evening before our discovery hike, it was a delight to hear a Screech Owl calling from the woods below their house. A biologist might say there is a significant diversity of wildlife to be found in this coulee. Furred, feathered, vertebrates, invertebrates and plants native and nonnative are to be discovered on this land too steep to develop for housing. It makes a marvelous place for children.

The four of us were dressed for the weather. We added light jackets. Dress for the weather. Warm gear can always be taken off…in cool weather dress in layers. When you start and as you continue, if there are children, trust that they will give you significant help on the hike. My adult thinking prompted me to say, “Let’s take the sidewalk.” I wanted to ease them into the coulee on the east side where mowed grass is found. You know acclimate them slowly. But, immediately, the youngest on our “team” emphatically said, “NO, lets go in the coulee!” She did not want to walk on the sidewalk, she wanted to go down the steep bank, into the trees. That is the coulee…where the action is.

My friends, listen to your younger discovery hike members. In connecting with nature decisions, they often know best.

The four of us went into the coulee. To get them mentally prepared, I stopped us at the first “bench” (level spot). “Listen,” I whispered. It amazes me how powerful the word, “listen” is when whispered. They did. But the shortest of our “team” soon said, “Let’s go down now.” Action and discovery were calling, she knew it.

Don’t expect the quiet to last for long.

They said “eeew!” But I took the picture.

We did, and as we walked our eyes picked up the remains of an old wasp nest. A brief stop satisfied our curiosity. At the bottom the tree line ends. We stepped out of the trees onto the deer trail. Two things happened: deer scat and the Harvestman. The deer scat was fresh. How could we tell? Color and moisture, it was dark with moisture, and not only from a coating of dew. This was the time to teach them about scat…not the other word which starts with “p.” While kids delight in saying the word which begins with “p” they also take pride in calling it scat-like a biologist would. Scat usually wins.

Bring a camera with you. That’s easy when you have your phone with you. Take pictures. You’ll remember your hike, and a picture really is worth a thousand words. We did. Then we discovered the Harvestman. We laid our clipboard and discovery hike note page on the ground to take the picture. The Harvestman crawled across the clipboard. It made a great photo. A Harvestman is not a spider. It is related. Do you see there is only 1 body part? Spiders have two. It will surprise you to know the Harvestman can shed a leg to a predator and still live? This leg will twitch for up to two hours distracting the would-be predator. A Harvestman does not make silk either. The Harvestman alone would be a long-time subject of study. But the urge to move is always present on a discovery hike…we went on.

We did not plan this photo. The Harvestman just walked on the clipboard.

I do not know what prairie forb this is! The ripe seed heads attracted me…and the granddaughters.

Our hike brought us to difficult walking. Perhaps I should have let one of the shorter members lead. Again, our shortest member spoke, “I can’t do this!” She would have quit if we had not helped her. She succeeded. This happened to her just a few moments later. Again, we helped her. She had triumphed over difficult circumstances twice. She had felt the fear of failure and the great joy of success. These two significant life events-failure and success are very important life lessons. All of our team had opportunities to experience them in real life situations, as the adult, I helped them through them. They succeeded. Discovery hikes are significant because they can provide safe, but real challenges children can experience, and work their way through. The oldest one cut her thumb on the sharp edge of prairie cordgrass. I said, “lick your thumb.” She did, shrugged it off and we finished the hike. Few adults would think the twin lessons of adversity and perseverance could be taught on a discovery hike.

It is hard to walk in tall grass and over brush when your legs are short. She did not give up!

Our hike took an hour of the girl’s day and mine. We received fresh air, exercise, and sunshine, and with them health. We experienced difficulty, needed to persevere; and we learned life lessons. Our minds were stimulated by many questions, most would have never presented themselves if we had stayed inside. The greatest lessons we learned by observation and doing.

What did we learn?

1.     God made the earth and everything in it…wasp nests, native plants, white-tailed deer and scat, Harvestman, sunshine, fresh air, and adventure. The words of Isaiah 44 were directly experienced, the girls and I saw with our own eyes.

“This is what the Lord says—
    your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:

I am the Lord,
    the Maker of all things,
    who stretches out the heavens,
    who spreads out the earth by myself,”

Isaiah 44:24

2.      God always seeks to be reconciled to us through Jesus. How did we understand the wonder of reconciliation with God through a discovery hike? We felt the warmth of the sun. We heard the calls of the birds. We smelled the fresh clean air. A discovery hike brings a sense of peace. You will not believe it…until you try it. These things represent the divine nature of God, and there are more. What is the first component of God’s divinity? It’s love. Because God loves us, He constantly seeks to be reconciled with us. Sin separates us from Him…God continually seeks to be reunited with us. Discovery hikes help us make that connection.

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ…

and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to   himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

                                                                                                                        2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Do you long for some blessings these days?

Take a discovery hike…alone, with family or friends-you won’t be disappointed…you will be blessed.

My Chickadee call brought this curious Chickadee close for us to see and enjoy.

The funnel web spider caught our attention. We never saw the spider. The dew on the web was beautiful.

The leaf rubbings were my idea…I told the girls my favorite sound was wind in cottonwood leaves. We collected some. The leaf rubbings were my idea, the leaf faces the oldest granddaughter.

Another of my favorite things about the cottonwood…if you cut on the growth line of a cottonwood twig with a sharp knife, the cuts will reveal stars inside. The divine nature of God…in plain sight.