Whenderholm Walk

With the weather getting colder, we wanted to go for a walk (hike) for our Saturday adventure. We had heard great things about Whenderholm Regional Park. It is about 15 minutes away from our home and we've driven past it many times. We knew that rain was forecasted for the afternoon but we thought we would be fine. We checked the weather once more before we left and there was now a severe storm warning in affect…but we thought we could beat the storm and decided to tough it out. We said a lot of prayers that we would be fine and we're so glad we went because it ended up being really fun and we survived!

I love how we are surrounded by tracks (trails), beaches, and beautiful scenery and that there's always something you can find to do in nature. We parked the car at the bottom of the track and we were surrounded by beautiful fall colors with huge orange oak leaves sprinkling the ground. It's fun to actually experience a real fall! We had found some hiking boots in our boxes for Reese and Trevor that we had bought in the States at REI so with their new kicks they were fast little hikers. With the storm brewing, we made sure to quicken our pace through the whole hike and enjoyed our brisk walk. We chose to walk the Perimeter track which was a 4 km walk. It wove in and out of the forest with wooden decks and stairs for part of the way and dirt trails climbing over and around tree roots for the other parts. We found a dry place to stop and had a quick lunch on the track. The track led us up to an awesome lookout point perched high above the ocean. The water was so clear and we were really wishing we could see some kind of animal activity out in the water. We could have stayed there all day peering out on the water but the storm was looming over us and we started to get rained on so we continued onward. The kids were such troopers and didn't complain when they got wet from the rain. The thick canopy of trees protected us from getting too wet. 

The best part of the hike was at the very end. The older boys wanted to climb the huge trees near our car. Cody lifted Ethan up the trunk and he hugged the huge branch. Ethan was wanting to get down but Cody was encouraging him to shimmy up farther. Then Cody noticed a weta (an insect like a humungous cricket) right by Ethan's feet. At first I thought Cody was tricking and just trying to freak Ethan out because he hates wetas. But then Cody plucked a very small weta (still larger than a normal sized cricket) right beneath Ethan's feet and showed him. I have never seen Ethan so scared in his life! The good parents that we are, were laughing so hard we were curled up crying! Poor Ethan was totally terrified and clung to that branch for dear life. It made for a great end to a great hike…we will definitely be back to do it again!