Since it was another Steelerless Sunday, I took the opportunity to go out on a hike and take the kids with me since they're showing both the ability and interest. This ended up being their longest hike yet, 6 miles. I had originally planned on between 4 and 5 but the loop we ended up taking was the longer way around and approached Hackberry Spring from the north. I could tell the last mile the kids were getting a little tired, but their moods still stayed pretty upbeat.

At the junction in Garden Valley we stopped and checked out the Indian ruin. Some people left some pottery shards on rocks so they were easily visible. I showed this to Natasha, which she found very interesting. Then we started digging some more and found even more shards. This was the first time I had ever seen any shards there, so I thought that whole thing was pretty cool.

On the way to the spring we saw what I think was a ranger coming the other direction on a horse. At the spring we checked that out and hung out a little bit under the trees, which have a lot of color now. Making our way out the drainage was fun to climb around the rocks, but it also tired them out for the last mile to the car.

Dmitri only had one big fall where he scraped his knee and cried for a little, but then he was fine. Overall the kids did great walking over all the rocky sections and the dodging all the horse piles. The hiking shoes that my wife bought are definitely broken in now.

Since they did so well for an unplanned longer hikes, I stopped at the convenience store for chips and Coke, which made for a very quiet ride home. When the kids got out of the car there, their first few steps were stiff from hiking so much, so their turning into official hikers now.