Hike It Family | Scouters Mountain

It seems that lately we have had every excuse in the book for not getting out for our regular family hikes and nature walks. Excuses include house work, nap time/cranky kids, work, errands, just plain laziness. The thing is those are just excuses and if we just took the time to get outside naps would probably better, our kids less cranky, our work more productive and our lives more active. Yes the dishes and laundry will continue to pile up but lets be real what adds more value to our lives – dishes or hikes? So yesterday despite having no clean towels, no groceries and a mountain of work we decided opted outside.

We headed to a new (to us) spot for a hike – Scouters Mountain. It was a bit of drive but it was worth it because it had a great view at the top of Mount Hood, was fairly easy for the kids to hike it with us and had well maintained paths. It also had super clean bathrooms, a green area to run around and a covered picnic area. Everyone started out in carriers (per the littles request) but about 10 minutes into our hike both kids were over it and they hiked the remainder of the time with the exception of the last short hill.

We spent time exploring our interpretive guide to see which birds, bugs and butterflies we could identify. These are really great to have on hand especially when you have a nearly four year old who wants to know what everything is. We need to get ourselves a few more to have on hand.

Of course we had to stop for a snack break and luckily Scouters Mountain trail has a number of benches throughout making it easily to stop, sit and gobble up a few bananas. After eating it was time to get back to exploring!

Of course we had to get a family selfie!

What did you do with your family this weekend? How do you make time to get outdoors?