Crafting a Walking Stick

Justin and I both have walking sticks. Old branches found on the forest floor from our backpacking days, lovingly carved and used throughout the years on many of our day hikes and overnight backpacking trips. Sometimes we take them with us when we hike with Reece, other times we just pick up branches from the forest floor and return them there when we are finished with them.  Lately Reece has wanted a walking stick of his own. So he too looks for the perfect branch in which to hike with, and as we do, returns it to the forest floor at the end of our hike.

Last week, he found the most amazing walking stick, it was perfect for him. As we finished our hike and he was returning it, I told him to keep it and bring it home. He thought this was awesome. I had just finished reading a post about crafting a walking stick with your little one and knew this would be a fun project for Reece and I.

We set up the paints one morning and he went to work painting it. While he was painting I waxed some leaves we had picked up on our hike. The plan was to let the paint dry, and then decorate it with some waxed leaves, goldenrod, pine cones and ribbon. There was a slight change to that plan when I decided to surprise him. I gathered everything we had collected and hid myself away while he played with his dad. I worked quickly and in a very short time had completed his walking stick.

I was pretty excited, and so was he when he saw it. I wish I could have captured that moment on camera...at least it is captured in my memory. 

He loved it! After the initial excitement, the question came...when can we go hiking?