Hiking With Fairies

The cooler weather months can be tough when you have kids. Kids by nature want to run around outside, and by nature, I want to just sit inside when it’s cold out. I’ve never been one for the colder weather so I have to suck it up, add those layers and dress for the weather to take one for the team. This weekend was chilly, but beautiful and sunny, so we went to check out a hiking trail about 20 minutes away. An enchanted hiking trail. With fairies. Or at least, fairy houses.

I’d heard about it several months ago, through various online mentions and finally a New York Times article on the fairy houses and their creator. The fairy trail can be found at the South Mountain Conservancy in Millburn, NJ. It made hiking more of a scavenger hunt as we found fairy house after fairy house — cute mini residences made of sticks and twigs, tucked in trees and various cracks and crevices. There were fairy-sized ladders and little furniture and swings — all the little details that had my kids’ imaginations running wild.

Of course, I was so busy making sure we weren’t missing any fairy houses and navigating all three kids over leaf-covered rocky paths that I didn’t actually take any pictures, but they can be found here and elsewhere on the web. I think, too, that there are more paths housing fairies, so this won’t be our first venture to the fairy trail. Also: of course we’re making our own fairy house to take out next time we go.

My companions were helpful in gathering twigs and sticks in our front yard. But when it came time to add the 20th stick to our fairy walls and waiting for the glue to dry, well…

Glue, sticks and empty seats.

This fairy house will probably take me as long to build as it would a contractor to build a regular human house — and it’ll look nowhere near as cute as those Pinterest fairy houses (get real!), but I cannot wait to go back and drop off our masterpiece. If nothing else, it’ll be a great excuse for another beautiful hike!

Have you ever found a fairy trail? —Erin