Davis Creek Regional Park - Washoe Valley

Early this springs we made our first visit up to Davis Creek Regional Park in Washoe Valley and fell in love with it! Have you been here yet?

Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park - Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

If you're looking for a way to get away from the craziness of life right now and experience something new, you can't get much farther away than this! This state park is jam packed with really interesting things to see and do, as long as you're willing to drive out of your way to get there. 

Tahoe Rim Trail from Spooner Summit - Lake Tahoe

We love finding nice kid-friendly hikes! We spent a couple of hours hiking and enjoying being outside on the Tahoe Rim Trail near Spooner Summit last summer, and you should too! 

Ft. Churchill State Park - Silver Springs

Back in June we decided to take advantage of Discover Nevada State Parks Day (which means free admission to all NV state parks) and explore Ft. Churchill State Park. We tend to have a soft spot in our hearts for places like this since my husband and I worked at a similar historic site in Arizona the summer after we got married. It was fun to see how similar the two sites are.

Sierra Canyon Trail - Genoa

We've been wanting to do some more hiking around Genoa for a while now, so we read about some of the trails and decided this one sounded like the kids would be able to handle it. It turned out to be a fun hike and, while not flat, is probably something most little kids could handle. We loved getting a little elevation over Genoa for a great view of the Carson Valley! 

Fay-Luther Trail - Gardnerville

Okay, so I have to admit I wasn't along for the adventure on this one. My excellent Hubby took the kids on a hike on a day when I was under the weather, and was awesome enough to take pictures and provide me with the information for this post. If you're looking for a great place to take the kids hiking, I'm told this is it! 

East Brockliss Loop - River Fork Ranch - Genoa

We've been so excited to get outside as the weather will let us this Spring. We had a nice sunshiny day and nothing to do, so we decided to head down to the River Fork Ranch and explore the Brockliss Loop.

Carson River Park - Carson City

I was looking back through some pictures and realized that somehow our trip to the Carson River Park back in the Autumn never made it here on the blog. I'm not really sure how that happened, but I'm here today to get that fixed because this a great place to take your family!

Golden Eagle Open Space - Carson City

The other day we decided to go for a Sunday afternoon drive and explore the area a bit more. We were hoping to find somewhere we could get down to the river around the south end of Prison Hill. Unfortunately it seems like there is only private land between the road and the river here, so that didn't work out. What we DID find though was Golden Eagle Open Space, which ended up being a fun place for the kids to get out and play and to do a little hiking around. 

Jake's Wetland - Minden

The other day we were leaving the library in Minden and decided to explore a little bit. We picked a random street and decided to see where it went. After a little while we stumbled across Jake's Wetland and Wildlife Meadow and just couldn't pass it by without stopping for a look. I'm so glad we did, because this place is neat! 

Exploring Genoa Nevada

The other day we were looking for something to do to get us all out of the house. We decided to spend the day exploring the town of Genoa, Nevada. It's one of our favorite places around here, but we've always gone down there to visit specific places or attend specific events. This time we just wanted to explore. 

West Fork Trail - River Fork Ranch - Genoa

A few weeks ago we were looking for somewhere to go to get out of the house for a little while. The weather was sunny and gorgeous and we knew we had to soak it in while it lasted. After some looking around, we decided to head down to River Fork Ranch. If you're looking for a toddler-friendly hike this is a great option!

Our kids were WAY excited to see cows. The two-year old thought hearing them "moo" was SO funny. 

California Trail aka Genoa Vista Trail - Genoa

We love the little town of Genoa, Nevada. It is absolutely beautiful, all nestled back in the foothills with a great view out over the valley. Someday when we're millionaires we're going to live here. What? A girl can dream, right?! When I had the chance a few weeks ago to go down to Genoa for a stroller hike along the California Trail with some other moms from town I jumped at the opportunity. It was a beautiful day and a really fun walk for the kids and I!

Fallen Leaf Lake - Lake Tahoe Basin

We have a new favorite place to go when we head up the mountain towards Tahoe. It's beautiful, easy to get to, and the parking is free. What more could you ask for?!

Eagle Lake - Desolation Wilderness

When I asked around on various local Facebook pages for kid-friendly hiking suggestions, the trail to Eagle Lake got mentioned more than once. I did a quick google search and immediately knew this one needed to go on our to-do list! It took us two tries to actually do this hike due to the high levels of traffic in the area, but we're so glad we didn't give up! Luckily, while Emerald Bay drives a lot of traffic to that stretch of road, the actual hiking trail up to the lake is comparatively empty. 

Rainbow Trail - Taylor Creek Visitor Center - South Lake Tahoe

During the week of Labor Day our family made a couple of trips up the hill to the Tahoe area to do some exploring. Some of the places we visited were planned, and some of them we ended up visiting as a back-up when our original plans didn't work out. The Forest Service Visitor Center at Taylor Creek was one of those happy accidents. We had a lot of fun here, and will probably go back again to finish seeing all there is to offer. 

Kings Canyon Waterfall Trail - Carson City

I often heard people talk about this little hike just outside of Carson City, but I hadn't been there yet. Finally, this last weekend we went for it. It was fun to get out of the house for a hike without having to drive more than a few minutes up the road from town. We really loved this hike, and thought it was an especially good trail for teaching beginning hikers to love this kind of experience. 

Tot Trek, Riverview Park - Carson City

We're trying to convince our kids that hiking is fun (they think we're just trying to kill them by making them do hard things). To that end, the kids and I went to Tot Trek at Riverside Park this morning. It's a fun activity, sponsored by the city Parks and Rec department, where young children get to go on a guided hike with a park ranger and learn about the history, plants, and animals that live in our area. They even got to do a fun scavenger hunt and earn some stickers!

Kit Carson Blue Line Trail - Carson City

As we explore around town, we've collected a huge pile of brochures, magazines, maps, etc about all the fun things to do around Carson City. Saturday we found ourselves with a day to fill and no idea what to do. We dug through our pile of information and found a guide for the Carson City Kit Carson Blue Line Trail and decided; why not? What better way to get to know our new home and its history than with a self-guided tour of the most historic area of the city?! And it's free, so there's nothing to lose!

Tahoe Meadows South Trailhead - Toiyabe National Forest

On our way home from Spooner Lake last week we stumbled across this beautiful, family friendly hike that we're dying to go back and do in full.