Teaching children how to hike  

Thanks ark, we did start my grandsons on a small trail and probably won't go on the longer and harder ones for a while.. But, I rather not play "talking" games, then you miss out on nature and as for having them lead, unless they were very experienced, the best leader is my husband or I..A few weeks ago, we came upon a skunk, I don't want to have a bad experience..

Yes, my son already has a hiking stick, a canteen and a compass, but he prefers using his Dads spyglass..

And I do tell them that we have actually seen everything from skunks to herds of deer on these trails we take, but I think they forget..My own children,I had taken on hikes since they were babies, my grandkids are starting from ages 5 & 7, so there are things that I may have forgotten to explain, that my children had already known from a very early age..All I can think of is to be quiet to see nature and watch out for poison ivy and rocks and roots, so they don't trip..

Yes, look for sassafras!!!

As for poison oak and sumac, do they looks similar to poison ivy? Because though I have spent my whole life hiking in woods, I still just aviod the "leaves of three" plants because if you were to show me poison ivy and a harmless three l;eave plant, I wouldn't know the difference..

What I use to get into as a kid and even though I looked it up, I struggle with what it is, and that is nettles..So when we go off trail, we have long pants and are careful where we step, because even off trail, there are many openings without plants.

To keep them from getting lost, we have a leader and a person in back and those jobs go to my husband,myself, or my 19 y/o daughter, so as long asthey are between us, they shouldn't get lost..At least my kids didn't, so I hope the reason was because we hiked this way.. (If there is something else I should tell them to keep them from getting lost other than what we do, please let me know)

Berry picking? Well, I guess they might get into that..I hated taking my 6 y/o this year, he complained too much, I think he would rather strip the berries off the plants in the backyard, than go and get a lot of berries somewhere else. Though we did find a good spot last year that is close to a rest area, maybe we will do that, but none of this in the middle of no where, they probably would hate it..

Yes, nettles are nothing to mess with unless you know what you're doing. They actually make a halfway decent hair rinse for people with dark hair. But you have to render the acid stingy part harmless, wear leather gloves, etc.

Sassafras has leaves of three.

Search: Poison Oak pictures, Poison Sumac pictures, Stinging Nettles pictures one at a time.

Your plan for not getting lost is good as long as when they go to the bathroom, they come right back on the trail. Maybe your trails have bathrooms, some of ours don't.

Take care and it's wonderful that you're doing this. So few people take their kids into nature and even fewer go for walks. Take care.

Yes, I remember well what a sassafras leaf looks like..And I have looked up the poison plants and nettles, but to me, they look like my weeds in my yard..lol So, I am just careful..

As for them using the bathroom, we took them to the state park where once in a while we can come upon a bathroom, but not always,.In that case, Grandpa can stay with one using the bathroom while I stay with the others on lookout, so I doubt they will really get lost..

I guess you have enough adult supervision to keep them from wondering off.

Well, I guess you need to work on weed ID. If everything looks the same in your yard and the same as the poisonous plants, then you've got a problem. Maybe try to find a site that has pictures you can click on to enlarge the pictures and one with descriptions written so that they tell you what to look for while you're looking at the pictures.

Always have extra water for them to wash their hands before eating, esp. if they've touched mushrooms or weeds. I know people who have touched poisonous plants and then eaten after without washing their hands enough. Poison ivy in the mouth is no joke. Take care

Sassafras had three different kinds of leaves, but how many leaves off one whatever you call it?

Ugh, poison ivy in the mouth...I have a story for you..I think my husband and brother were with other kids or they were in charge of other kids, I can't remember now, but what happened was, they were in the woods camping and everyone pitched in gathering wood fopr a fire. Well, I guess one of the kids didn't know any better and had picked up poison ivy..It wasn't caught on that this was in the fire and everyone had poison ivy, including the eyes from the smoke..Plus the fact that I am either more sensitive to poison ivy, or I can't stand the itching and I make it much worse..So both my husband and I are very weary of any plant with three leaves..(Though I bleive he can pick out the difference between poison ivy and a three leave harmless plant)


I will try searching out both written and visual info on these plants, but if I don't get it, that's okay..Though probably 90% of the time I avoid touching something it's harmless anyways..

As for this question, "Sassafras had three different kinds of leaves, but how many leaves off one whatever you call it?" Are you asking if I can identify sassafras by all three leaves? If so, no, I can onnly identify the ones that look like mittons..

I've heard that people have tried to get rid of any of the poison three by burning and ended up in the hospital covered with junk from the smoke. But never knew anyone who actually did it.

Maybe someone near you, I think you said someone at your son's school knows edible plants, maybe that person knows poisonous ones, too. At any rate, I hope you learn to ID them. Many plants have three leaves, clovers, strawberries, goldenseal. You'd be afraid of most of the forest up here.

No, I'm just trying to figure out if it has 5 leaves. I am trying to remember when I saw them in 1981. That's the only time I was in the Catskills and actually saw sassafras growing. Something I saw down there had three leaves in front and two in the back. Oh well, that was too many years ago to remember. Take care.

I nkw soem people who know some about edible plants, but not much more than I do..As for the sassafras leaves, here is a picture I found..If I saw the first leaf, I would be clueless on what kind of tree it came from..On the second leaf, I would be 50% sure it was sassafras and on the third leaf, I would be 100% sure what it was..

I am really rushed today, the first three words is, "I know some"

Terrific job! You're getting good at this internet edible research stuff. Take care.