Does this sound familiar?  You’ve….

• loaded your pack with snacks, bandaids, baby wipes, extra clothes, spare kleenex, candy, and a bazillion other things
• cleaned off the carseat(s),
• strapped the kiddo(s) into the car,
• driven 25 minutes to an exciting looking trail head
• sung row your boat and the song that never ends over 346 times on the drive
• extracted the kiddos from the car
• and set them off down the trail….

only to find that they are tired and ready to go home five minutes into the hike.  You try candy, coaxing, singing, follow the leader, knock knock jokes and as many other tricks as you can think of, but have only made it another 50 feet down the trail… and two hours have passed.  Let me recommend one more trick for getting little ones moving down the trail (and, truth be told, this still works on me today): the Hiking Stick.

Tell them they need to find a hiking stick because it will give them the energy to go further.  They’ll try 30 different sticks, cruising down the trail in search of new and improved ones, and totally forget that the point was to go for a ‘walk’.  They’ll try them forwards and backwards.  Between their legs like a horse.  Over their shoulder.  It might turn into a gun. They’ll balance it on the palm of their hand.  And who knows what else they’ll think of.

Point is, they won’t think about the hike.  Tell them to find you one too–it has to weigh a certain amount, be a certain length, be the right height, have a curve for your grip, etc.  The hiking stick is the ticket to at least 100 extra feet.  And if you’re in the Mojave and there are no ‘sticks’ to be had?  Substitute something else:  find me a white rock, a tortoise shell, a flower, etc.  Scavenger hunts are wondrous motivators.

Miniature dinosaurs.  Adorable, and common.  Ever wanted to see one up close?  Feel its little heartbeat, stroke its leathery sides?  I am here to help you achieve this life long dream.

You may not know this, but lizard experts the world over use sticks and dental floss to catch lizards.  Very high tech stuff.  Today I’m going to share with you their technique.  I’m sure it is a highly guarded secret, and if you don’t hear from me by Monday, know that a branch of the C.I.A. has likely locked me away somewhere for divulging this information.

What you’ll need: (more…)

That’s right, there’s more than one way to use a stick.

Here’s one you may not know about, but that I learned about from David Attenborough on his The Life of Birds videos (I put a youtube video of Attenborough in action at the bottom).

Note that Attenborough uses a rock, which, obviously, can work too.  I have found that sticks resonate better, but it may depend on the type of stick, the type of ‘drum’, and the type of bird.  I leave you to find what works best in your area.

Especially useful during breeding season, woodpeckers (by the way, did you know that a group of woodpeckers is called a ‘descent’ of woodpeckers?) respond not only to vocal calls, but to the drumming sounds they make when hammering at wood with their sturdy beaks.  Each drumming rhythm is unique to the particular species (though some sound a lot alike to me!) and not only attracts a mate, but also helps to delineate territories.

Here are some examples: (more…)

SO. It’s Saturday morning. You and your little ones head out on a hike; into the Great Outdoors in search of dinosaur bones, owl pellets, and the yellowest dandelion. At the trailhead your offspring reaches into his pack to pull out a compass—“Let’s head north!” s/he proclaims, fumbling past granola bars, kleenex, a g.i. joe figurine, and the forgotten-about-rocks from last week’s hike.

Alas, it seems the compass has been left on the back lawn, where it was last used during a make-believe game of cowboys and aliens. While your child laments this tragedy, you laugh. Being the wise and experienced parent, you scoff at your child’s need for technology. You don’t need no stinkin’ compass to find north, now do you? Of course not: you read outsidemom.com and know how to find north using only a stick and the sun. (more…)