TTwo days ago we did the first hike – Observation Point. Before leaving, we did the pre-activities and went through the entire document. Then we hit the trail and discussed the things we’d front loaded on the website and stopped at each of the informational signs on the trail. It was absolutely wonderful. Previously, for many years I worked in environmental and outdoor education and I have an undergrad in tropical ecology and a master’s in geology. I learned more using the information you provided and going on that hike than I have learned in the entire three years. It was wonderful.
And I know that at age 5 and 7, my kids don’t have exactly the same level of academic interest I do in natural history, but they have the hands on interest children naturally have. My daughter is crazy about animals, so she’s particularly interested in anything about fauna and about observing animals in the field. She even made a kit with a magnifying glass, a ziplock back to collect samples, etc.
The bottom line is thank you so much for this; we’ve been dreaming of finding something like this and it is really, no kidding, my wildest dream come true to finally start learning all the things I wanted to learn about these mountains. I can’t wait for next week. And I realize my kids are having an opportunity to learn about things and be exposed to things that I didn’t have access to until I was 23. And that fact amazes me. How much they’ll know by the time I only began to learn about natural history. Thank you.
PHOENIX, September 2021