Mudd Creek Loop, Chatham, ON

      We had a great weekend up at my oldest brother’s cottage in Michigan. I was really hoping to be able to do a travel trail but unfortunately the weather got in the way. It was pretty cold and raining (or hailing) most of the time. Being back and [mostly] unpacked I thought it might be a good idea to go explore a local trail today with the boys. It was very cold still but at least the sun was out, that was a good sign. As the boys (and myself) were still recovering from our busy weekend I thought it best to stay somewhat close by so nap times wouldn’t be disturbed too much.

     Mudd Creek Loop was our destination. This is a place I have walked many, many, times. In fact, if you asked me before I started this blog I would have told you it was the only place in Chatham to go for a nature walk. It is 3.15 km total but you can break it up in many different ways which is one of the great things about this place.  While there is a parking lot at Mudd Creek, today, I parked on the end of a road on the opposite side of the park. My reason was so I could bypass the play equipment at the parking lot. I know that sounds mean, but I did want to walk, and if we went to a park first we wouldn’t have left it at all.

      This trail as I mentioned before is a beautiful trail that is looped around a creek. There is a lot of green space, trees and benches. This is usually the go-to picnic area for our house for those reasons. To be honest, the Mudd Creek Loop is also a great balance of running space for the kids, and being able to look at all the beautiful backyards that back onto the greenbelt for the adults that like to look at landscaping.  The pathways are paved so it is a great path for bikes, strollers, and dog walking.

    
       Even though today was a cold day it at least looked like and sounded like spring. The flowers were out, trees were green or full of flowers, birds sang throughout our walk and ducks and geese laid by the water.  The three year old had a blast running up and down and around the path and all the green areas while the one year old happily ate Timbits while in the stroller (I am starting to really notice a trend of one kid liking our ‘hikes’ a lot more than the other).

       Now, maybe I can’t control the teacher inside of me, but I have a blast introducing my boys to new ideas and understandings with how this wonderful world works. Today’s lesson was about water currents. The oldest can’t resist a stick that is near the water. Sorry stick, but you will be thrown into whatever water can be found. As there was a good breeze today every stick that was thrown would quickly float away. I kept asking my little guy to throw the sticks so they would float the opposite way. Now perhaps comes the mean person inside of me, but I found his frustrations hilarious. It didn’t take too long before he realized there was no use, the sticks would always float the same way. So today’s walk also introduced a great science experiment for a three year old on water currents, one that he will probably pay more attention to with all future sticks that get thrown into water. 

Canadian Goose

      We did get to see some wildlife today as well. There were many ducks and Canadian Geese about. There was also a turtle for a small glimpse trying to catch some sun on a rock. However, we did not see any whales which was something my three year old was hoping to see (I guess that leaves us for another science lesson of creeks vs. oceans)

       We ended up walking for one and a half hours and only covered about half of the loop. I am sure it wouldn’t take many people that long, but when you have one child crying because his Timbits are done and another one constantly going into ‘vehicle mode’ (sometimes the oldest realizes that he is actually “Awesome-us Prime” which requires him to make the “Transformers” sound, then lays down on the pathways and army crawls) you don’t walk too quickly.

       The Mudd Creek Loop is a great place for a little escape while still being in town. You can go for a picnic, bike ride, a stroller walk or dog walk, or even for science lessons. I know it is somewhere I will continue to going with these boys. I am glad it is so close. 

Prediction List for today's walk