The second hike of the summer was held at Indian Valley Open Space Preserve in Novato on Saturday, July 15. Nine families attended. Cecilia Ledesma, our Bilingual Nature Educator led the hike assisted by Carly Pucci, our Bilingual Wildlife Educator and Susie Graven, a Terwilliger Nature Guide. Before beginning our trek, we had an opening circle where we introduced ourselves and shared some of our favorite things we do with our families. Most people connected over their love for being outside, camping, walking and of course good food. Kids were excited when we passed out binoculars and magnifying glasses. Right away they began scanning for birds off in the distance. We saw some soaring turkey vultures and ravens. When we first hit the trail we came across several little pools where we could see tadpoles swimming and frogs scampering up on the banks. We compared words across languages and dialects. We climbed a steep hill with our fearless leader Cecelia and her entourage of kids leading the way. We stopped at the top and were refreshed by the cool embraces of madrone trees. We later descended down to a pond for lunch where we shared mangoes, dates, and other snacks. While there we saw sunfish swimming and fighting. We saw a female mallard duck sunbathing, and the tail of a pond turtle as they dove into the water.”—Wildcare
