It’s Back: The Sunday Evening Nature Walk {Tuscarora Creek Park in Leesburg}

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Hooray for spring!  Our crew celebrated last week’s newly arrived beautiful weather with our first family nature walk of the season.  We picked a new spot, packed a picnic dinner and our nature gear and set off for some explorations.

Tuscarora Creek Park

• Address: 425 Solitude Court SE, Leesburg, VA 20175 (near the intersection of Route 7 and Battlefield Parkway).
• Website: (#11 on the list of parks)

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Park Features:

• Playground
• Swings
• Picnic Pavilion (available for rent)
• Bathrooms (padlocked; available only with pavilion rental)
• Access to the W&OD Trail
• Access to Tuscarora Creek
• Plenty of parking

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What we loved:

1. The Trail!  The Creek!

We picked this spot because of the playground and trail combination, and were delighted to discover that the trail follows Tuscarora Creek.  (Hence, the park’s name.)

Next time, we plan to bring nets for scooping around in the water.  The boys are learning about tadpoles and are eager to find some of the little creatures.

This time, the boys searched for little sea shells and practiced skipping rocks.

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2. The Wildlife  

A highlight of our walk was spotting a Great Blue Heron soaring along the creek just in front of us. Little Brother was thrilled to look up the heron in his Pocket Bird Guide.

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We also attempted to identify several wildflowers along the trail.  The only one we were sure about was a beautiful white flower with a red stem, called Blood Root.

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 3. Private Picnic Spot

We discovered the picnic table (pictured below) too late, after eating our picnic dinner on benches adjacent to the playground since the picnic pavilion was occupied by a large, loud Hispanic baby shower.

On one hand, it wasn’t quite the right atmosphere for our weekly reading of Hero Tales–our current Sunday night family devotional–but on the other hand, it was sort of fun to eat dinner to loud, very dance-able Spanish music.  Because after all, what’s a baby shower without loud dance music and an MC?

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Next time, we’ll remember that private table along the trail with a view of the creek and a conveniently located trash can.

Have you explored a new nature spot lately?  Do tell…

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More Nature Resources from Yankee Homestead:

• 8 Ways to Celebrate Spring with Kids
• Planning Our Sunflower House
• Favorite Children’s Books About Birds
• 11 Great Nature Gifts for Kids
• 13 Ideas for a Spring Nature Walk

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