The Pump Track at Stringer's Ridge is a favorite spot for our kids. We probably need to make the effort to go more often!
The first time we tried it out was Mother's Day last year. Jack had a blast! Isaac was riding on the back of Daniel's bike and was not amused. Earlier this year I took Jack, just the two of us, as a part of our nature day. He could have stayed all day, if I had let him.
Isaac has been doing such a great job on his balance bike and I showed us that he can really handle himself on the trail in the woods at our neighborhood park, so we thought we would go back to the Pump Track and he see how he did. He really blew us away with his natural ability.
His bike is just a balance bike, so he had to work hard to push it up the mounds, but once he was up, he had no trouble (or fear) coming down. "I can do it myself!" is his motto.
By the end of the outing, he was insisting that he needed pedals on his bike. At two, we aren't so sure he is ready, but he may prove us wrong!
And if you get bored with biking, you can always play the toddler favorite, Try to Get Me!
This was also a first for Jack, in that he has a new bike that is bigger and has gears. He handled himself well on this trip to the Pump Track.
As an aside, we realized that Isaac's bicycle helmet was really too
small, so we measured his head and realized that it was bigger than
Jack's! And Jack happens to have a huge head! Thankfully we had a
hand-me-down helmet from a friend whose son is now a teenager!
I knew when we moved to the Chattanooga area that nature would play a big part in our lives. I don't think I knew how perfect it would be in terms of how close so many different trails are to us.
My love of this area is definitely increased by the number of trails that are within a short drive (or walk) from our home.
Each week Jack and I go on a hike as part of our homeschool's nature study, and we typically tackle trails on the mountain where we live. However, sometimes we venture off our mountain (we've wandered over to Lookout and Raccoon Mountains), and have really just begun to explore the Tennessee valley and surrounding areas.
Last week, in conjunction with the Super Blue Blood Moon, we were studying the phases of the moon for our nature study but that particular study didn't really fit with our typical day hike.
Since the two of us always try to hike on Thursdays, I decided we would do an urban hike in the city, and if we had time, I wanted to take Jack to the Pump Track to ride his bike.
When Jack found out the plan about the Pump Track, he wanted to get the Stringer's Ridge hike over as quickly as possible!
It was a foggy cool morning, and we were the only ones who seemed to be out on the trails. We stuck to the paved trail in order to try to make the fastest time to the overlook of the city.
We noticed that hiking in an urban area was different from our mountain in that we could hear construction in the North Shore area, and also traffic on Hwy 127 as people made their way downtown and around the city.
Over the last several weeks we have also noticed lots of tree limbs and debris down on the trails in the area. Heavy winds have made a bit of a mess of the woods.
We had another successful day together. We weren't on the look out for any particular part of nature, it was just nice to walk and talk together, in silence or chatting.
Several times Jack came and grasped my hand as we walked. He almost never does that and I really cherish these moments we get to spend together.
As promised, after we made it back to the car, we drove
around to the other parking lot located at Stringers Ridge, and Jack biked his little
heart out on the two tracks.
He tried some different ways of riding down the various dirt mounds and got pretty confident.
He did have one spill at the end. I had to help pick the bike off of him, but he was fine. He hopped back on and did several more laps before we had to call it a morning.
Watching these videos, I'm pretty sure Jack is ready to move up a bike size. We have one with gears for him, but Daniel needs to do some adjustments to it before Jack starts riding it.
Check back on Thursdays to see where our nature studies have taken us... Previous Nature Hikes with Jack:
Mother's Day means that I get to pick what we do and where we eat. So even though Jack was voting for Wendy's for lunch, I opted to try The Daily Ration. The promise of pancakes was a good persuader and Jack was on board with forgoing Wendy's.
We were pleasantly surprised to get right in at the restaurant, and even though it took a little while to get our food, it was worth the wait. Though a photo at the restaurant with my boys was not going to happen (someone was hungry and needed a nap!).
After our fill of delicious food, we headed home to grab our bikes and hit the trails for a little family adventure. On the drive home, Isaac had a little cat nap and Daniel had time to take Jack to get me flowers and make me a sweet gift.
Once our bikes were loaded on the car, we made our way to Stringer's Ridge for some mountain bike action. We have been wanting to take Jack to try out the Pump Track there and if we felt like he was able, we thought we would try one of the shorter trails at this park.
I can't tell you how excited I am that Jack is ready to start getting on easier trails with us. Daniel introduced me to mountain biking about 10 years ago when we lived in Charlotte and I love it. It gets me out in nature, and there is a thrill element to flying through the woods while navigating sometimes difficult terrain. It is a ton of fun.
Being able to take our kids out with us is fantastic, and it was a great way to spend Mother's Day.
When we arrived at the Pump Track, Jack hopped on his bike and went straight to the biggest mound to ride over. He didn't make it up and ended up in the tall grass. Initially I thought he was going to be over the experience, but he got back on his bike and worked on the smaller mounds.
Before I knew it, he attacked the big mound again (following Daniel this time), and he made it! And then he rode down it like it was nothing! Proud mama moment for sure.
After we all did several laps, we made our way to the second track and tried it as well. The first track we did was kind of a figure eight, the second track was 3 loops (kind of like a snowman?). You can do variations of the loops and work on your banking skills, as well as riding over small repeating bumps and hills. It is really good skill development for being on an actual trail.
Unfortunately Isaac was not enjoying the Pump Track. We noticed that his head was bouncing around more than we prefer and we were in the sun, so it was hot. We told Jack to take a few more laps and then we loaded the bikes and drove around to the other parking area and trail access at Stringers. The trail access to Stringers from the Pump Track area is really steep and not great for little kids.
So we loaded up and made our way up the main trail to the Choo Choo trail. The Choo Choo trail is a short dirt path that loops Old Baldy. It was PERFECT for Jack. He had some small climbs, but it was manageable even though Jack's bike doesn't have gears.
As soon as we were on the trail, Jack shouted something like, "This is AWESOME! It is just like the pump track!" It was better for Isaac too because we could ride quickly and it was in the woods so it wasn't as hot.
We did four loops on the Choo Choo trail before we had to leave.
Jack had a lovely meltdown because he wanted to go back to the pump
track and we were out of time. Other than the meltdown, it was a fun day
with our family.
After our ride, Daniel dropped me off at Warehouse Row where I met a couple of girlfriends for dinner. We ended up eating at Tupelo Honey (after I got changed and cleaned up a bit). Three hours spent with other moms, visiting with no distractions, responsibilities, or bedtime duties, was a perfect way to end a lovely Mother's Day.
I am looking forward to more adventures with my little family. It feels so good to know that the kids are getting bigger, and more skilled and that bigger adventures are just around the corner for us!
