Cradle of Forestry in America - Part III - Forest Festival Trail

After touring some of the exhibits and watching the movie we headed back outside towards the Forest Festival Trail.  It was great to get the kids outside so that they could run around a bit, even if we did have the rain to contend with.

The trail is 1.3 miles and blends Dr. Schenck’s forestry experiments with forest work today while allowing for discussions on many topics, including how plants grow, decomposition, forest issues, and past transportation methods. Highlights include an ozone garden, antique portable sawmill, and a 1914 Climax locomotive. Climb aboard and ring the bell!
--from Cradle of Forestry website

It was raining in earnest by this time so we all had our umbrellas out.

There was a handy map to explain the outlines of the trail as you began.

The path also included a number of kid friendly activities advertised as the Adventure Zone.

The first Adventure Zone activity we came to was a series of animal tracks.

I thought this was a very clever way to show what animal tracks look like.

We took shelter for a few minutes in an area where we learned how tree farming works.

I never really thought much about farming trees (except for Christmas tree farms), but it was interesting to see how they had to experiment and figure out what worked best.

The pond was another spot on the Adventure Tour, but as the rain was coming down we didn't stop to look for anything.

We next came to a portable sawmill.

This shed was another dry place to wait for a few minutes before we walked on to see the train.

We were able to climb on to the train and the kids enjoyed ringing the bell.

This log loader helped get logged trees out of the forest on trains.

This was the remnant of a mountain farmstead that like many other plots of land was included in reforesting efforts.

These stumps were an obstacle course for kids.

This sawhorse was provided for kids to "ride" while pretending to be on a horse.

Trout hatcheries were often used to help repopulate local streams.

We headed back to the building at the end of the trail.

You can see more pictures from our time at the Cradle of Forestry in this album.  It was definitely a place we enjoyed visiting and I'm sure we'll go back the next time we're in the area.

~Matt