Field Trip: Finley Wildlife Refuge

September 23, 2012

Field Trip: Finley Wildlife Refuge

I had to clean off my desk today. I mean, I really had to; things slide every which-way every time I print and, even worse, my wireless mouse stopped working because the signal couldn't get through all the crap piled up. *sigh* I'd blame it on homeschooling, but my desk has been like this ever since I had that second child. In the process of said cleaning, I found a brochure of trail descriptions from William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge, which reminded me that I haven't posted about field trip yet.

rarin' to go

My goal was to take advantage of the fall weather and give us all something extra to do while my husband was gone on a business trip (a week!). We did have some clouds, and it even sprinkled on the windshield while en route, but it did not rain and really the cool weather was nice.

Ava reading the interpretive signs. *happy sigh*

Finley Wildlife Refuge is about 35 minutes from our house, and I've driven by it probably a hundred times, but never noticed it. Even my mom, who has been through four kids' worth of field trips in this area over the last umpteen years, she'd never even heard of it. (My mom and my little niece came with us.) Which was kind of funny because while we were there, we saw several groups of kids who were clearly on a field trip. (All I could think was, "that's pretty brave to take a class on a field trip just two weeks into the school year!") There are several different trails out there, and I think they are all pretty easy hikes. Some are only open during certain kinds of the year to give the birds that nest there time to do their thing. We hiked Woodpecker Loop Trail, which, according to the brochure, is 1.1 miles round trip. Long enough to hear birds, see tons of cool trees and other foliage, hear and see birds, and see a wasp's next the size of a soccer ball. The kids all had a great time. I even overheard Wyatt and Ava pretending they were horses on a nature walk a day later.