WHY? Our Journey Into Homeschooling

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Adventures in Hiking

Hiking Surprises

This past Saturday, A.J. and I took a walk with our friend Laura in Shenandoah National Park. I'd been on this particular part of the Appalachian Trail before and didn't think much of it. We hiked a mile down to a beautiful view point with a nice resting rock. A.J. did a little rock climbing on the way there and on the way back (he's quite adventurous at this sort of thing nowadays and stopped only because Laura and I wouldn't go further into the "bush" with him). We enjoyed a snack at the viewpoint and headed back.

We were, I'd say, 8/10 of the way back, chatting away and having fun, when Laura gasped and jumped back. She was a few feet ahead of me with A.J. at her side. I heard the same thing she did and told them both to get back. It was the eery, frightening sound of a rattle. A.J. and Laura had come within inches of stepping on a timber rattlesnake sunning itself on the trail.

We backed off about 30 or so feet down the trail--far enough away to still be able see the snake and to also be able see further up the trail to warn others while we waited to see what he'd do. We were hoping he'd leave, but I was prepared to hike back where we'd come from and walk Skyline Drive back to the place where we'd parked our car. A.J. was pretty scared at first, but I picked him up and explained to him that the snake didn't want to hurt us and that his rattle was his way of telling us to back off. Meanwhile, my own heart rate was really jumping, mostly for A.J. He had come so close, and although he was wearing long pants, he was wearing sandals with no socks, so his feet didn't have much protection.

After a little while, the snake stopped rattling, but just about that time, some other hikers, a couple, started coming down the trail from the other side, and the snake started up again. We were waving and yelling to the other hikers, but they didn't respond. They were almost on top of the snake when the man finally spotted it and showed his companion. Laura realized after a moment that he was signing to her. Apparently, at least she was deaf. What timing! They turned around and went back up the trail, but we were able to warn another group of hikers as they came down. There were also a couple of hikers on our side of the trail by now waiting with us.

We waited again, and after several minutes had passed, the snake stopped its rattling again. A little bit later, he finally unwound himself and began to slither his way into the bush to the east of the trail. He looked fairly big and thick, at least the thickness of my arm.

It was quite a game of "Who is going to go first?" after the snake got off the trail, with a lot of "Can you still see it?" Finally, we got by (me holding A.J. as we passed the spot where the snake had been), hugging the far side of the trail as we went.

I tell you, I don't think my adrenaline level lowered until the next day sometime. A.J., however, was fine after just a few minutes and was helping us yell to warn the other hikers as they came along.

He even came home and was the next day learning all about snakes in an issue of Zoobooks that had arrived just a day or two before. I went online myself the next morning to learn the type of snake we had run into (a timber rattler in this area) and to find out more about it. Apparently, their first defense is to stay hidden or play dead when an intruder comes near. Then comes the rattle. Last is the bite. Also, they have control over their venom, and about half of all bites are nonvenemous. Still, it's important to seek medical attention immediately if you do get bitten because it takes a little while to know if the bite was poisonous. Also, I learned that during hot summers, these particular snakes are usually nocturnal, but as fate would have it, this was a particularly cool day for summer (probably in the 60s or low 70s up on the trail).

I learned at least a couple of lessons from this experience, which I'll be passing on to A.J. First, I am taking the "long pants" rule more seriously from now on and am never hiking or letting A.J. hike with feet bared again. After the baby is born, I'm sure I'll be investing in nice leather hiking boots for both of us. Also, if the dogs ever hike with us, they are staying on leashes and probably short ones at that. I have no idea how they would have reacted to such a thing but am afraid they might have tried to attack and gotten themselves bitten.

Another Cool Web Site

Once that adventure was over, A.J. and I spent some time Monday on the National Geographic web site. We started at the page for NG Kids and went from there. The site is pretty cool. We've been there before to play Geospy, one of A.J.'s favorite geography games. There are some silly games like Virtual Pet and a Mad Libs-type game, but also some fun more educational games. We played several quiz-type games through the part of the site for National Geographic Explorer. A.J. breezed through the one on coral reefs, and we also played one on poisonous animals and one on gemstones. The quizzes are set up so that even if you don't know all the answers, you learn. He really seemed to enjoy those games. I was disappointed to learn that the Explorer magazine is unavailable to homeschoolers unless they order 10 or more copies, as it is designed for classroom use. It looks really cool and like something A.J. would get a lot out of.

We also picked up some cool books last week at the library, mostly about sharks and whales but also one about different breeds of dogs called The Perfect Puppy for Me. A.J. is really enjoying them all, both on his own and for storytime at night. I saw a suggestion from another parent about letting kids read by flashlight after lights out at bedtime, and that's been working really well for us. A.J. gets some reading time in but doesn't stay up indefinitely, as he would if the light was left on.

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About Me

Learning to homeschool and homeschooling to learn.