St Patrick's Day Hike 8

St Patrick's Day weekend brought some sunny weather and my 4 year old grandson.  It's awesome that he's as into hiking and camping as we are, because it makes it easy to find things to do.  We recently purchased a used pop up camper, so we set that up in my parents back yard (it's a 6.5 acre back yard) and camped out in the "super great tent fort" all weekend.  Temps were in the 20's at night, but the camper heater worked really well.
On Saturday, we went for a hike at Hashawha.  We're getting a little tired of Hashawha because that seems to be the default hiking location, but they have an aviary with various birds of prey that are unable to survive on their own in the wild.  This let's my grandson see some wildlife up close.  Plus, there's a playground and a nature center, so it's a great place to take a 4 year old with a boatload of energy to burn off.
We hiked just under 3 miles by taking our usual route on the Vista and Green trails that took us by creeks and Lake Hashawha.  All four year olds love water, and my grandson is no exception.  I'm sure it will be even more fun when the weather is warmer and he can see some turtles, fish and snakes.  Still, he was thrilled looking for different animal prints.  Large dog prints were wolf prints, and my husband's boot print was an obvious sign of Sasquatch activity (this boy is seriously awesome).
At the end of our hike, we took some time to let the boy play at the playground.  It's amazing how a playground can give a 4 year old some renewed energy!  All in all, a decent hike.  It was good we managed to get this hike in, because just a few days later we ended up with 12+" of snow on the first day of spring.