Winter has never been my favorite season at all, living in Wisconsin has never been on my plan.thanks to my cheesehead husband and my adventure baby who really enjoys the cold temps.They push me out of the house even if I try to come up with all sorts of great indoor activities.
I usually plan my week ahead depending on the weather, I don’t ever do last minutes things, because I’m a mom of a toddler, but sunset last minute hike give me a call I will be there before you know it.I’m from South Africa I love the sunset we have the most beautiful sunset in Africa, so I wouldn’t miss a sunset hike in my life especially 38 degrees in the middle of winter in Wisconsin.But I have to say not every day I’m up for an afternoon hike, sometimes Armani naps for 3 hours so when she wakes up its already dark and I’m ready for bed ugh… Mom life.
There is just something I really adore about my daughter she is a nature freak, she looks out the window and say let’s go for a hike, she has been saying this as long as she has started talking, she keeps me going, she keeps me on my toes, she is my greatest motivation.she reminds me every day of the most important things like hiking, gym, etc…. I’m such a lucky mom, thank god I’m also an adventure mom not a stay at home mom, I listen to her and always try to have fun with her, she is my everything.
Today was such a busy day and we couldn’t wait to get out of the house and go hiking, we packed the car at 1 pm we are always on time and we are very organized.so I wasn’t going to let anything stop us from going on a sunset hike.We left on time and when we got there it was peaceful and beautiful like we expected, I had two questions for her, do you want me to carry you or you wanna hike. She said please carry me, I was super stoked because that means I get to do what I want to enjoy a nature walk and take great pictures.
But it didn’t last long she wanted to hike I was happy to let her run along the slippery trail packed with snow, I didn’t wear my yaktrax because people have already been on this trail, so it was safe for me to hike without them.
At this point we are chasing each other on the trail and giggling and just having fun enjoying nature play, I know it sounds weird, they play in the woods huh… We got really warm and the temps were slowly dropping.
Looks like we were 10minutes early so we hiked all the way to the overlook and decided to hike back and try to catch the sunset from a different direction, I carried her again on my back so that we can keep up, she never complained at all she was curious about the gunshots she kept hearing and she asked if they are shooting a deer like her daddy, I said maybe.at this point I really wish I could have come early enough to add more miles because we are circling around now, so the plan was to keep moving so that we stay warm and that worked.
We finally made it to the overlook and she said, put me down.
So every time I take a picture she will say take a picture and send it to daddy.
Here we are just feeling like we are the luckiest girls alive in the wildness culture not everyone gets an opportunity to see this beautiful life out of the house.
We have learned to bring a tripod on the solo hikes because we don’t wanna miss out on this precious moments, we keep this memories photograph.
Cherokee marsh unit never disappoint, summer, spring, fall, and winter we are here honey! The location is also convenient for my family only 20 min drive to the park from my house. So we literally spend 45 min outside and felt really good.
We are so grateful for the warm winters, I highly recommend. Cherokee Marsh is family friendly and dog-friendly, it’s never busy.great for bird watching in the summer.it’s really a great hidden gem for Madison.
“Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better.” – Albert Einstein
This is the location: Cherokee Marsh – North Unit, 6098 N Sherman Ave, Madison, WI 53704