Night Hike... Sike!

What’s more could be more exciting on a Saturday night in Atlanta than hanging with some nerds at the Chattahoochee Nature Center going on a Night Hike? I can't think of anything. Can you???

So, whats a Night Hike you ask? Exactly what it sounds like: A hike. At night.

Why would anyone want to do that you say to yourself? Mainly because they waited until the last minute to find something to do and it sounded semi interesting. That about sums it up.

So boom – I’m all on Creative Loafing,  AJC, Alpharetta Chamber of Commerce, combing through email invites, viewing the Groupon for the day. Nothing! A whole bunch of nothing *sad face*. I finally check out Access Atlanta and search my area of town. Yea, I know I live North OTP but still… ish happens up here too.  Sometimes…

I find a link for a Night Hike. Well, it caught my attention and despite the well named title, I clicked on the link to see exactly what it was.  The description went a little something like this: Ever wonder what creatures come out at night? (Not really) Have you always wanted to visit the Chattahoochee Nature Center after hours?! (Ummmm… no) Does hiking at night pique your outdoorsy interest? (What outdoor interest?) Have you always wanted to visit the CNC for an in-depth, behind the scenes look at creepy crawly creatures that only come out at night all for the price of $10? (Why the hell would I… $10?!?!... oh I’m there!)

I suppose this is what I get for waiting until the last minute to decide what I’m going to do for the weekend. I’ve just been so busy at work trying to learn a new job and with all my activities throughout the week, by the time I get home all I want to do is sleep. And at work, all I have time to do is work. Doesn’t leave much time for event planning. So there I was. Friday afternoon. Scrounging for something to do over the weekend.  All I know is that the worst Saturday night I’d had since turning 30 included putting together a vacuum cleaner and rearranging my sock drawer. All in one night. Watch out der’ now!
I figured a Night Hike > vacuum cleaner and socks.

Saturday evening rolls around and if you really must know, I was somewhat excited to go on my night hike. I convinced the kid to go along with me (sucka!!!) and we headed out about 7:30. The hike was to start at 8:00 and end at 10. Is it even dark at 8?

We get to the CNC about 7:50 and theres one lone car there. Lawd! Not again! I was hoping at least 5 people would be there. You know me and my son, the security guard, a tour guide and science teacher who knew more than the employees.  Luckily, the one car held old people and their grandsons.  So that was acceptable.

At the check-in table we filled out a form and they directed us to a pavilion (aka the wooden benches in the middle of a dirt bowl) where we could sit and wait. They said they wanted to wait until about quarter after 8 to get started as to give more people time to show up. Chile please! Nobody else is showing up, lol.

At least they had entertainment as we sat there. One of the Naturalist (that’s what the back of their shirts said) brought out a Corn Snake. If I had to guess I’d say it was maybe 3 feet long and skinny – probably about the width of those fat pencils we used in Kindergarten (Do kids still use those? Probably not huh?  I bet they just submit their homework on their ipod touch and call it a day). Trying to get in the spirit of things I asked her could I hold it (Please say no! Please say no!)
“Nooooo… I’m sorry you can’t hold him but you can touch him” I was told.  So I did.
Oooh… aaaahhhh.  Ok I’m bored. Whats next?

They finally realize nobody elese was showing up (just like last time I’m sure) and decided it was ok to begin – whooo hooo! Grandma decided she wasn’t going to go and would just stay seated on the bench.  I was thinking this was brave of here. Looking back on it all, I’m now thinking she’d been there before and knew her 10 bucks got her just as much on the bench as it did on the “hike”.

Now, a few things I must mention.  To start, we had 2 Naturalist (giggle) and neither one of them had a flashlight. I wanted to ask but I was trying to enjoy the experience and not bother with pesky details.  Second, one of them brought her son along with us. Her son… Coyote.  In all other posts I have changed names because I  know some of the people I’m talking about are reading or are closely associated with me and I want to pretend I’m not talking about them here. But not this time. No lie – this kids name was Coyote. Like the animal. My son was trying to convince me that it was a cool name. I had to explain to him that it was only a cool name if the kid turned out to be cool. Because if he winds up being a dork the name is totally not going to help.
Lastly, I asked could I take pictures – they both cocked their heads to the side and looked at each other like a dog looks at you when you ask it something stupid.

Naturalist:  “Ummm, well, of what?”
Me: “I don’t know. The stuff we’ll see while on the hike”
Naturalist: “Oh… *silence*…. I don’t think you’ll be able to see or capture much with the camera… so…”
Me: “Is it too late to get my money back?”

Kidding.
But I was thinking it.

They quickly changed the subject and we headed off on our hike! Fun times not ahead! Off we go. Into the creepy a** woods. About 45 seconds into it, I see a cabin straight from Camp Crystal Lakes. I got a little frightened but to lighten the mood I told my son he had to protect me from Jason. He said “Jasons probably about 50 years old by now, I’m pretty sure we could outrun him”. Good point! I felt better :)  Naturalist 1 decided this, of all places would be a good place to stop. Right next door to Jasons place. I’m trying to figure out why 2 ½ minutes into the hike we’re already stopping? I can still see Grandma sitting on the bench!

#1 and Coyote’ s mama tag team during out pit stop schooling us on nocturnal birds, which I discover, there’s really only one. Owls. They confirmed for me the one thing I already knew prior to this trip – if you see a “bird” flying around the sky at night… it aint a bird, it’s a bat! Period! So #1 reaches into her goodie bag and pulls out two ginormous zip lock bags  - one has a hawk wing and the other has an owl wing. She swooshes them in our face so we can “hear” the difference between the two. I was impressed with the fact that owl wings don’t make any noise which makes them silent hunters. Totally necessary if you think about it. If I ever need  a new email address, ima try and work in the words “owl, silent, and hunter” in there some kind of way… don’t hate.

Anyhoo (hoo hoo), I realize the bag is the gift that keeps on giving because she then pulls out this machine that makes bird noises. And she proceeds to push the different Owl versions so we can hear the different between a Screeching Own, Great, or maybe its Gray, Horned Owl, and  a Hawk Owl.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz…

“OMG! What was that?!?!” Wild Dogs mother says. I have no idea what she’s talking about, I didn’t hear anything.  #1 entertains her by rattling off 137 different owl species until finally #2 says “OMG! I just heard it again!!!” to which #1 replies “Me too! I think it’s a (insert owl sound machine)" To which #2 exclaims “Yes! That’s it! I didn’t know we had those around here!” I smell  b.s.

And mind you, we’re only like 30 feet deep so we’ve actually spent more time resting than hiking. At this point I see Granny coming back from the bathroom and I'd guess she has now walked further than us.

Moving along! Owl time is over (so I thought) and we start walking again. Now we’re really getting somewhere. 3 more minutes…  and we stop again. To talk about owls. Again. #2: “Notice how it’s getting darker? You’ll have to start relying on your senses other than site to make it through this hike.” Mind you, it’s darker, but it’s still not dark. Yet I’m getting more and more concerned about our lack of flashlight.  #2 asks #1 if it’s a good time to “pull out the crayons” (huh???) but she’s advised to wait. Wait?! Why?! Great... now I’m really curious. Time to move on people.

While we’re “hiking” the Naturalist are giving us minimal feedback regarding nocturnal creatures and constantly asking if we have any questions.  Luckily kids today don’t pay attention in school so they ask  all sorts of stuff to which I’m pretty sure majority was answered incorrectly. We get to a wooden bridge that I don’t even think took 3 steps to cross – take 20 more steps and stop again. Once again the bag-o-goodies doesn’t disappoint as she pulls out different nocturnal animal smells, i.e. Beaver, Coyote (no, seriously, lol) Opossum, and Skunk. Surprisingly, skunk wasn’t so bad – although it was in jar , that was sealed in another jar. It sort of reminded me of this kid that used to ride my bus in elementary school.

And folks, this was basically the end of the hike because we turned around to head back – but just before doing so I waved at  Mee Maw.

To be fair we did stop one more time on the way back to do the Mint Trick and the Crayon Test. We were each given a piece of candy – and neither #1 or #2 could remember if it was Winter Green or Spearmint – and were told to bite down on it. The person across from you was to look into your mouth and would see a spark! It somewhat worked.  And for the Crayon Test we were giving a crayon and piece of paper in order for us see how different our vision was at night. You had to write down what color you thought the crayon was and once we got back to better lighting we'd be able to see what color it actually was.  I wrote down red but my crayon was black. Now I really wanted a refund!

We headed back to where it all began and were greeted by a roaring campfire – courtesy of Coyote’s daddy. They handed out sticks and marshmallows, which was cute, then we sat around and talked for a bit. I was ready to go but we stayed a while as was trying to soak in the moment.

This night hike has really inspired me to FIND SOMETHING BETTER TO DO THIS WEEKEND!!!