So you love nature and strolling through the great outdoors, but living in the humid Sunshine State puts a damper on that. Autumn is the perfect season to get out on those nature hikes without having to change shirts every mile. We have a few fun ideas for making your hikes even more fun and entertaining!
- Scavenger Hunts: These are a great way to get you looking closely at nature and paying more attention to everything around you which can help center, relax and ease you. This can be fun with friends, family or alone. Bring a light sack, bag or even a pillowcase or paper bag with handles and collect things from a list. We've provided a fun Autumn Scavenger hunt list below, but don't be afraid to make your own. Challenge yourself with things you have seen before but don't see as much to ensure you stay entertained for the duration of your hike. be careful not to remove things that might break park rules or endanger nature.
- Photography Scavenger Hunts: Don't feel like carrying around a bag? Take a camera and make sure it's fully charged with extra batteries and a lot of storage. Use this to capture the items on your list without taking them from nature and no hauling the items around. You can use this as a chance to test out some photography skills. Try to make the photo as pleasing to the eye as possible, don't just shoot and snap, really play with angles and maybe even pick the item up and put it somewhere else to change the scenery of it's natural habitat.
- Bird watch: Almost every park has benches and even if they don't, bring yourself a bag chair or even a blanket to sit or lay on and watch the sky. Through the trees and into the sky you can find a wide variety of different birds. This is another one you can bring your camera for. Watch their activity, how are they acting? Which bird makes which sound and which other birds respond? This takes you back to focusing on nature and gets you connected with the earth and away from the chaos of life.
- Don't hike... run!: Running through a nature park can be one of the most relaxing type of runs. Make sure to watch the trail ahead of you because the ground may not be smooth and could have obstacles such as tree roots and other nature derived objects. Ensure you have proper running shoes on and someone knows where you are. Accidents can happen to anyone at anytime and you want to make sure if you were to become injured you wouldn't be stranded out in the woods with no cell reception!
- Barefoot Hiking: Yep, exactly what it sounds like! Just go out to a nature trail and hike with no shoes or socks on! (We suggest packing some shoes just in case, regardless of what the following link says, especially when trying it for the first few times, but try not to wear them.) Check out this site for a few short and very helpful tips about Barefoot Hiking for Beginners ! (you could do all of the ideas above while barefoot hiking as well!)
Scavenger Hunt List
- something that is alive
- a leaf with jagged edges
- an interesting weed
- a dry leaf
- The sound of tree branches crackling
- a leaf with smooth edges
- three acorns
- a seed from a tree
- a twig
- a pinecone
- a handful of grass
- a feather
- a branch with leaves on it
- a red leaf
- a yellow leaf
- a green leaf
- a smooth stone
- three little pebbles
- wild berries
- a seashell (for those who apply)
- a leaf turning colors
- a leaf bud
- a piece of bark
- the sound of an animal rustling
- snake skin
- an old cocoon
- a tiny bit of moss
- a piece of fallen tree bark
