Three Meadows Trail, Beaver Lake

This was another hike that Erin planned, and I was excited by her trail selection.  As I've mentioned before, there has been a lot of repetition in our hikes at Beaver Lake ever since Frankie became communicative.  He just loves the boardwalk so much it's hard to steer him away from the Bog Trail.  But the other trails are nice, too, and with hunting season still open, the nature center is always a safe bet.  So off we went.  The Three Meadows Trail is varied in scenery, passing through pines and hardwoods, and as the name implies, several lovely meadows. 

Clark in November

On Friday night, I told Frankie I wanted him to check the weather forecast and decide which day this weekend would have better weather for a hike.  This kid has always been obsessed with the weather, checking the 10-day forecasts not just for our area, but for distant places he's traveled.  Place names bookmarked in the weather app became some of his first sight words.  He makes up different weather forecasts for his various toys and imaginary worlds (bunny world, spaceship world, train land).  And he's just recently started writing up and illustrating his own weather forecasts.  Given all that, I suspected he would enjoy this assignment enormously, and he rose to the task, taking his new responsibility quite seriously.  First thing Saturday morning, he scrolled through the hourly forecasts for both days and determined today would be best.

Deep Woods Trail, Beaver Lake

 My mother Mary came to visit for Frankie's first birthday in 2011, and has made it an annual tradition, coming every fall.  She came a week earlier last year, due to a schedule conflict, and got to participate in Halloween festivities, including pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating.  That worked out really well, so we did the same thing again this year.  Obviously any nice visit must include hiking.  Of course!  We walked a portion of the Morningside Cultural Trail one day, at Frankie's insistence - he loves the "secret stairs" behind the community gardens and the water towers, and wanted to show them off.  That turned out to be a fine adventure, since neither Mary or Erin (or Alden!) had been up there before.  We also hiked at Clark Reservation.  Today we wanted to meet up with Erin and Alden again, so decided on Beaver Lake.  It is a good place this time of year, since we don't have to worry about hunters, and closer to her house than some potential destinations.