Some Items Need a Spare and the Magic of Laundry Baskets - Lewis Mountain Shenandoah National

Usually the CRV is so packed that the girls can't see each other in the back seat and I can't see out the rear view mirror. I  packed lighter this time but my efforts backfired. Our faithful air mattress of two years leaked terrible on the first night, leaving us sleeping on the rocky ground. The lightweight girls didn't sleep too badly but I spent most of the night awake and in pain. I eventually abandoned air mattresses altogether in favor of a cot but I hadn't made the switch yet at this point.

Ranger Bill and the Bear Song - Loft Mountain Shenandoah National

I remember Ranger Bill Jones from our camping trip last summer at Big Meadows. His genuine kindness and patience for children shined through immediately during his Junior Ranger program. 

So, I was happy to see Ranger Bill the first Friday we stayed at Loft Mountain.

I think the expression on his face while showing my 8 year old a bear foot print communicates how much he likes what he is doing.

Plus, Ranger Bill sang the "I Met a Bear" song. Once we got back to the car, I realized we had this song on one of our cds and we listened to it many times with new enthusiasm as we drove Skyline Drive.....but I still like Ranger Bill's rendition of the song better:

What Is This Footprint? - Simmons Gap Fire Road at Shenandoah National

One of the guests at a ranger program showed a photo on her cell phone of a strange animal track on the Simmons Gap fire road in the southern district of Shenandoah National Park.

The girls and I walked the fire road the next day not really expecting to find the print since it was 24 hours old, but my 8 year old has keen eyes and she spotted the track on the right just past the metal bridge.

While I was getting the camera ready, my 8 year old took her index and middle finger and made fingerprints in the third and fourth toes of the track. I told her not to do that next time!

Note that this track has four big toe prints and no claw marks. Bears have five toes and leave claw marks. A cat, however, has four toe pads and no claw marks since cats retract their claws until they need them.

Bobcat tracks are like house cats so they could not have been this animal. 

Mountain lion? My 8 year old is wearing a girls' size 2 shoe in this photo. Note her double sideways fingermarks on toes 3 and 4.

Evil Tick Beasts - Loft Mountain Shenandoah National

While spending two weeks camping at Loft Mountain in Shenandoah National Park, I checked the girls and myself daily for ticks. Nearly every day, I found at least one embedded tick and many more that I flicked off before they could bite.

I remember finding a teeny tiny tick on my 3 year old and showing another mother in the bathroom. She was shocked how tiny ticks can be and told me that she had not checked herself or her children even once for ticks during their four day visit.

Even embedded ticks are easy to remove if you catch them within the first couple of hours. I take my needle nose tweezers, grab the tick as close to my skin as I can, and gently pull for up to three minutes. I wait for the tick to get tired so it comes out whole. If you pull too hard too fast, the head of the tick breaks off and stays inside your body. Yuck. 

The tick below came off my 8 year old easily because we caught it early. It had only bitten into the outer layer of the skin on her scalp. The tick is very much alive after removal and still clutching a bit of human skin in its mouth.

Witch Hazel With Wasp Eggs - Blackrock Summit Loop Shenandoah National

Ranger Zak Skelton led a hike at Blackrock Summit Loop in the southern section of Shenandoah National Park. 

He knew a lot about plants and pointed out how "witch hazel" got its name. Wasps lay eggs on the leaves and they look like little witch hats, hence the name, witch hazel.

Nature-Inspired Art - Loft Mountain Shenandoah National

Nothing like spending time outdoors to get children drawing. These four were inspired by our time at the Loft Mountain section of Shenandoah National Park.