Hiking Fun

This past Saturday I undertook my quest to take my kids to every public park in Murfreesboro, if not Rutherford County, before the summer is over. The first park we chose was Barfield Park, off Hwy 231 South in Murfreesboro.

In the interest of full disclosure, we are not novices to the playground at Barfield. We've been there many times with playgroup and other activities. We even went to the Barfield Beach Party in May, an activity in which they truck in tons of sand and hold a beach party in the parking lot. However, we have never used the hiking trails or any of the Wilderness Station facilities.

This particular adventure was undertaken without Justin as I was doing him a favor. He expressed a desire to do some yardwork/cleanup without his two little helpers underfoot. Hardy can be a bit of a hoarder, and it is easier to pick up sticks/trash without someone pleading with you to save said items for some unfathomable reason.

We began our adventure with a hike on one of the paved trails behind the Wilderness Station. I opted not to take Ellie's stroller, knowing how she loves to run. We decided (rather, I unilaterally decided as I am a dictator) to hike to the River Overlook, a distance of 0.7 miles (or 1.4 round trip). I had a backpack with me filled with snacks, drinks, notebooks and crayons for any stops that were needed.

Ellie loved hiking, running most of the way to (and from) the River Overlook. She actually hiked 1.2 miles of the trail, which I thought was impressive for a 23 month old. She stopped frequently to point out leaves and bugs to us. Each dog that we passed (all seven of them) were met with rapturous waves and exclamations of glee.

Hardy was not that enthused about the hike to begin with. He wanted to stop frequently to draw. He wanted to rest. He wanted to go to the playground. However, by the time he had snacked and rested at the River Overlook he was fully into hiking mode. He spent the return trip pointing out bugs and letting Ellie try to catch him. At one point he asked what his gift was for finishing the hike. I told him he would receive the gift of good health. His response, "That's not a very good gift." I can't help but love the utter honesty that kids have.

We finished up our day with playing on the large playground (there is a smaller playground as well, but we prefer the larger one). The major downside to the playground at Barfield is the lack of shade on or near the play structures. On a hot, muggy Tennessee Saturday, this can be a bit tortuous. However, both kids loved all the climbing options on the structures. They were also big fans of the large pavilions, which offered us a much-needed shaded respite during our play.

In all, Barfield has moved to the top of our park list (although we have only "officially" visited one park since we began our quest). It has a lot of different options for family fun, such as hiking trails, play structures, disc golf, and nice picnic areas.