Rock Scramble at Balanced Rock

When my husband broke his toe the first night camping in Big Bend National Park (a later story, I promise!) and we opted out of a single long day hike and picked multiple shorter ones instead, we really got to see our oldest son in action. One of the hikes we chose was out to Balanced Rock, what was it exactly? We had no idea! We didn't look much into this hike because we had 0 cell service in the park, but it was short enough for if we needed to turn around it wouldn't be a big deal. So we packed up our snacks and water, slathered on sunscreen, threw the 3 year old up on my back, and headed out into the desert...after a fun, bumpy 4 wheel drive ride out to the trail head of course.

The trail was windy, warm, and flat. We were glad we had brought along our hats! The outside temperature was only in the 70s, but being in the desert it felt much warmer. After walking on the sandy trail for a while, looking everywhere for wildlife, we finally passed a couple returning who told us our son was about to have the best time rock scrambling, and my first reaction was, say whattt?! Those type of trails are my favorite, but how would our son do? How much rock scramble did they actually mean? I mean, they didn't say boulder, so we should be ok, right?

Our son was already complaining about being tired (he wasn't, it wasn't THAT long of a trail and certainly wasn't tough...remember, I said FLAT!), but that's kind of his thing. It isn't a pleasant thing, but he complains on every hike when we first start out. As soon as we reached the incline though, I didn't hear another peep. My husband followed close behind, making sure he didn't misstep and fall. We told him he could use his feet AND his hands, it took a little convincing but he realized that his hands would help. My husband only helped him where he needed it, but he mostly climbed up and up by himself. A lot of his first hikes were on the Appalachian Trail so he knows to look for the white blazes, this hike he was looking for actual posts that had the direction of where to go, when terrain is rocky it can sometimes be tricky to see which way the trail goes. There were plenty of "watch where you're going!" and "think about your next step!" sayings going out, but he made it to the top, and the snack break was well deserved. He is confident in his hiking, or at least acts it, but always feels shows a sense of pride when we compliment him on a job well done.

Learning to slow down and think about your next move is important on these trails, especially being that it was windy. He slipped ONCE on the way back down, but remembered what we always say and leaned back so he'd land on his bottom...not his face. He didn't get hurt, laughed it off, and assured us he'd be more careful next time. With him getting older and growing out of the carrier stage, watching him "climb mountains" is something I'm trying to get used to, even if it's a little scary.