Little Mulberry with the Nephews

I had been promising my nephew C. (11) to take him on hike after our plans last Saturday got cancelled. I had what was shaping up to be a relatively quiet Thursday, so I asked his dad to bring him to work, so we could leave from there early in the afternoon. I invited his older brother S. (13), and he agreed to go as well.

We left the office at 2, headed for Little Mulberry County Park. I had really enjoyed it a few weeks ago, and thought it would be a good place for them to get more hiking experience. C. wanted something more challenging, but I wanted to get a better feel for their abilities before we did something more aggressive.

After reviewing the map, I decided to start with the Ravine Overlook trail, and then cross over and do a portion of the wilderness trail, to give them a taste of a more rustic hike. We made fairly good time on the Ravine trail, but paused for quite some time when the trail reached the stream at the bottom of the ravine, as I knew the boys would enjoy walking out on the rocks. I was not disappointed.

It was a bit slow going back up, as the boys were not used to climbing steep hills. When we got to the top and crossed to the main trail, we paused at a nearby picnic table for a snack.

After eating, we took various connectors over to the wilderness trail, and took it clockwise. The boys were getting a bit looser at this point, as was I. I began seeing orange spray pain on an occasional tree, which I had the boys convinced was the sign of a prior bear sighting.

It had been some time since I had spent time with just the older boys together. It was interesting to observe how their relationship had changed over the years. They have always been very close, with a minimal number of disagreements. This was still in evidence, but they now tease each other much more, and in more adolescent ways. This fortunately never exceeded the bounds of appropriate behavior. The only real disagreement was over who would get stuck with the backpack at various points.

I got a little carried away, and ended up taking a longer route than I had planned. Toward the end, the boys, particularly S., were getting quite tired, and I had to keep pushing them on.

We finished after 2 hours 45 minutes, and did around 5 miles (except for C., who did 6, because he kept running ahead and then back to S. and I). It was a wonderful opportunity for me to spend time with them, and to help ensure that our relationship remains close even as they grow up. I am so blessed to have them living in Atlanta!