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#Instafriends and Hiking: Bishop Ranch Regional Preserve

by Stephanie
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Piper and Poppy exchanging rocks

Friends that have kids the same age as us and who like the outdoors are hard to come by. Until now! I’m so grateful for the outdoor community and specifically the outdoor mommy-bloggers whom, since I’ve entered the blogging scene, have been nothing but positive and supportive. This is where hashtags and Social Media come to play–I am proud to say I have a new Instafriend and her name is Christian aka Outsidemomma.

I follow Outsidemomma and her family on Instagram–they are avid hikers, love to cycle and they live super close to where we are. I also couldn’t help but notice we both had the Alite Meadow Mat in the same color, so naturally, I had to reach out and make something happen. We both have toddlers the same the age, and their names are Poppy and Piper–Yea you’re thinking how freaking cute are those names, right?

We decided to meet at Bishop Ranch Regional Preserve. Its a short hike, perfect if you don’t hike much or want to take your toddler somewhere new to explore. We took the Grey Fox Trail to the Stream Trail. The trails here are a bit muddy because of the recent showers we’ve had, but it’s totally manageable if you want to try hiking out for the first time. Plus, there’s plenty of streams to play in and that’s where we ended up chatting while Poppy and Piper found rocks to throw in the water. We let the girls out of their carriers and in between learning about our backgrounds, both girls were also starting to warm up to one another. Shortly after exchanging different colored and textured rocks, it was only proper that Poppy walked ankle-deep into the streams ignoring my insistent pleas against it. Oh well, go for it.
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Poppy getting ready to toss a rock into the stream pc: Christian Courtney

Further up the stream trail, I noticed my dog Gus’ paw prints were still imprinted in the mud (I came here yesterday with him and Poppy) and I also noticed a long slippery trail where I slid down a small slope. I can’t promise that ended well.

This made me laugh to myself because I have a feeling Christian could commiserate. There was a section where we had to do some off-trail hiking into dense brush on the slopes heading down to the streams, due to mud. “Hi, my name is Stephanie and I’m going to take you on an adventure!” I had to manage this same maneuver yesterday only with a 100 lb. dog in tow and all along I was telling myself I wished he could help tug me off this hill.
At the end of the stream trail, there was a little run off area over some rocks and then it goes off back to the entrance. It’s always fun to go out of your comfort zone and share the outdoors with new people–we can’t wait to hang out with Christian and Piper again real soon! You can read about Christian and her family adventures outdoors on her blog or check out her photos on Instagram @outsidemomma. If you know of any good places to meet up for hikes, or would like to join in, let us know below in the comments section. The more #instafriends, the merrier!
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From L to R: Poppy, Stephanie, Christian, and Piper

Happy adventuring!
                    
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