The Roanoker - January/February 2015 - 25

R GET OUTSIDE AND PLAY
With the Grandkids: First Three Hikes
Start with the Mill Mountain Star Trail and its easy escape or return points.
ONE GOOD SUSTAINING tactic is to
talk about the funny paint on some of the
trees. And once a 3- or 4-year-old has the
new word "blaze" in his or her head, then
you can get a good little chunk of walking
done by making that the charge: Find us
the next trail blaze to make sure we don't
get off the trail.
Our first hike, as another grandchild ages
into semi-readiness for such, is the Star
Trail up the back side of Mill Mountain. It's
less than two miles, the climb is not steep,
there's a bench or three along the way, and
you have the Star as a destination. Or even
the zoo if you feel that ambitious. Plus your
own picnic table to spread out lunch and
rest before heading back down. (Or, if one
small hiker or another isn't ready for the
return trek, a great spot to have a parent
come pick him up.)
As the concept is understood by a person on the cusp of or just into elementary
school, there are certain aspects that need
to be emphasized and some that can get
downplayed a little. Certainly the walking
itself - often a great lure for the grandparent
- is no attraction at all to the small walker.
Which is why the lower Hoop Hole Trail (off
of U.S. 220 just north of Eagle Rock) is our
second-challenge hike for tikes.
The lure? This jump-in hole where the
rock is right at the point where a 6-year-old,
say, has to work a bit to get his nerve up to
jump off the eight-foot drop into very cold
stream water. A summertime hike, obviously, and the loop is, at four miles, only
a tiny bit longer than the about-three of
the up and back on the Star Trail. But the
trail is rockier, and steeper in spots, and if
you do the longer section of the loop first
(gotta earn your fun and your lunch), then
you walk about three miles before you stop.
THE

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Hoop Hole has the better-than-Star reward of a swimmin' hole for lunch and play.

The swimming hole is a little obscured, and
down a sometimes-muddy steep hillside.
But it's worth it for the 6-12-year-old in
many persons of, especially, the male persuasion.
Beyond four miles and beyond maybe 9
years old, the picture can change, and seems
to go in one directon or the other: I've had
enough dumb walking; or, I sort of get this,
at least, and I am willing, even if mostly just
to please Papa and Gigi more than anything
else, to go longer, and even for a less kidoriented payoff. Which is where you oversell to heck the difficulty and challenge of
the Appalachian Trail up to McAfee Knob
or the Andy Layne and AT up to Tinker
Cliffs, at each of which the payoff is, uh, a
dumb view. Well, some pretty cliffy rocks
too, on which you can scare your grandma

all to heck.
Both of those hikes are just under 8 miles
up and down. But by this point, the younger
hikers are carrying not only their own backpacks, but also their own choice of supplies
for lunch, which can include - hey, they've
earned it - candy and soda! Having your
own water bladder - with ice - is a good
help at this step too.
You get them to the point of having done
that set, then you have them on the edge of
where our oldest two are now: Possessors of
overnight packs, pads, layers and more, and
ready to go out into the daggone wintertime,
up to 4,000 feet through the snow to an AT
shelter to sleep overnight outside.
With their dads, of course, as Papa and
Gigi will be walking to dinner and back to
the warm house. -KURT RHEINHEIMER
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

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The Roanoker - January/February 2015

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