Awendaw Passage of the Palmetto Trail

Pictures of our first "long" day hike. We are training for backpacking over night so three of us have overnight backpacks on. My husband is recovering from a knee injury so we thought it best that he only carry his water. I carried his stuff and the dog's (Arwen) stuff. Ryanne (the 7 year old) had a day pack. Even when we hike overnight, she'll carry a day pack because I don't know if she's ready for an overnight pack yet. She's pretty small. :)

We hiked one leg of the Palmetto Trail. YAY!! I will say that today, all of us are a little tired and sore. haha! We had so much fun though! We were very worried because it started raining on us when we were about 2 minutes from the trail head. Ack! After checking the weather on our phones again.... we saw it shouldn't last long. So... we started off in rain gear. :)

Parts of the trail had a boardwalk because this leg of the trail went through woods, swamps, and the marsh.

 Yes, Ryanne's was a trash bag because it was the only rain "poncho" we could find that didn't make her trip. haha! She said it worked. Collins was pink and gray because his backpack is the only one with a rain cover we can put over it. The rest of us needed the ponchos so it could go over the packs. The picture my mom got of me is really funny. When my husband saw it he started teasing me that we aren't going to the Festival of Fools. LOL... see the picture below. it totally makes sense, doesn't it. haha!

 Since it had recently rained, there were parts of the trail that required some jumping, and balancing to keep our feet dry. While dry feet doesn't sound like that big of a deal, it really is when it's cold and you have several hours left of walking.

 I thought this was such a beautifully old tree. See how large it is. My 9 and 7 year old and standing at the base.

 I also thought the moss was beautiful. Many of the trees were covered with it and it was just a beautiful shade of green.

 We decided this would be the perfect ghost telling tree. All the little trees wrapped around it just looked kind of spooky. 

 Finally, we made it to the marsh. It was really pretty.

 The kids thought it was pretty too. This is about where we noticed the rain had pretty much stopped so rain gear came off. YAY!!

 Here is a gorgeous, old tree that grew out over the edge of the marsh.

 Awendaw Creek that ran alongside a lot of the trail.

 Another marsh shot.

 Selfie with Collin! :)

 Suddenly, we were in a dry area with lots of palm trees.

 Paul.... hehe!

 Arwen watching Ryanne. Arwen always had to lead the way. It was kind of funny. Of course, she kept me walking pretty quickly but then we had to stop and wait for the rest.

 The kids resting on another tree that hung out over the marsh.

We found this cute little snake on the side of the trail... dead. :( We assume it was the cold. Paul put it off the trail so no one freaked out walking by it. 

 Break!!! Potty and snack and Arwen water. The rest of us had water bladders on our back so drank as we went. We had to keep stopping for Arwen. She went through two bottles of water on this hike and a lot of food. She was burning a lot of energy.

 My view for most of the hike.

 My cute mom. hehe! She used her hiking sticks so much. She said they helped her a lot so I'm glad she had them. :)

 Awendaw Creek. It was so beautiful. We walked along it for a while.

 Back in the woods for a little while. I thought the woods were really pretty too. :)

 Selfie with the hubs!

My mom got this shot of the kids and me (Arwen is there too but you can only see a little) looking out at the water and the marsh.

We really did have fun. We are all a little tired today though. haha! I was trained in canine massage therapy back when I worked in animal rehab. Now that I stay home with the kids, Arwen gets most of my massages. She isn't a big fan of me massaging her hind legs but after a couple minutes working with them she straightens them out and lets me work on them. Well, today she just stuck them out to me and let me massage them. Her pectorals were sore too. Normally, when I finish she gets up, gives me a few kisses, then goes on with her day. This morning, she laid there like this for several minutes before moving. It was so funny!

Our next step is an over nighter. I can't wait!!

If you'd like to visit the Awendaw Passage then here's information on the trail. http://www.palmettoconservation.org/awendaw.asp