A child’s joy is contagious

By: Lorraine Johnson, Venture Outdoors Volunteer Trip Leader
Lorraine Johnson has been one of our Trip Leaders for eight months now. She truly enjoys the experience of being a trip leader and being able to hike with others. In today’s blog, she shares one of her most recent experiences on a family-friendly hike.
Iris Bejgrowicz, one of our Trip Leader Specialists, led the October 12 Family Hike for Trail Pittsburgh‘s 10th Annual Trail Fest at North Park. I assisted her on the hike. We were blessed with warm weather and very blue skies. Groups of families with children walked along the compost trail near Parish Hill. Once we were about a quarter mile in the scenery became very interesting. The trail was relatively flat and easy to hike. Iris and I helped engage the children by uncovering acorns and pine cones on the trail. It was so exciting to see the enlightened faces of the children when they saw the leaves on the ground and could identify the trees of origin. It was as if we could actually see the light bulbs going off in their heads.
Iris did a wonderful job in finding interesting details and information prior to the hike. The children were given a sheet with pictures of the items they might see on this glorious day. We spotted many of those items during the hike.
My favorite part of family hikes overall is seeing how a child’s joy is contagious. It’s always a perfect day for discovery with the little ones.