Hiking the road (or overgrown path) less traveled

Before I get to the real focus of the post today, I'd like to mention that I have caught the Dreaded Family Cold. I'm calling it that because it seems to pass particularly fast among family members and makes one feel just yucky enough that you don't want to do anything but not sick enough to call off work/school when something important is going on. I had two meetings today so needed to go in to work. And I probably would have just puttered around the house rather than resting, so it's probably better that I'm at least getting some work accomplished (well, and blogging).

The leaves around here have only barely begun to change, except for this maple tree at the metropark, which was probably 3/4 complete, and a few I've seen on my drive between home and work.

On Saturday, the boys and I met my brother and his family for lunch and then we did a little hiking in one of the Cleveland Metroparks near us. Nat likes to geocache whenever possible, so he brought his gps and the four boys and he and I started into the woods.

 Checking the gps to verify the coordinates.

 Heading down with the requisite walking sticks and water bottle.

However, because the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, we quickly left the nicely groomed path and set off UP and into the woods. And then down again, then across a small ravine, then up again, and to the coordinates location where we found...nothing. The kids, however, had a blast. It definitely reminded me of when my brothers and cousins and I would go wandering around in the woods at Black Lake in search of something or nothing - it didn't matter. On our way back to the entrance area, Nat again took the steeper, less groomed route with the kids and I elected to follow an actual path, which got me down the hill faster than the others so I was able to snap a few pictures from below.

 The boys and Nat trying to figure out the best way to descend.

Isaac chooses his own path and gets down first.

Reece after he made it down. I was VERY glad he wore brown shorts based on how much time he spent sliding down hills in the dirt/mud!

Hopefully, we'll do more of these kinds of hikes before the weather turns and maybe even find something at the coordinates!