Singing Oaks Nature Preserve

Singing Oaks is my new favorite preserve.  I’ve been reading the description for a long time and wanting to try it, but was concerned it would be too difficult for my child and then worried it would be too icy in the winter.

So finally, we went, and it was fantastic.  The trail isn’t as well-defined as in other properties, but the trail steward has done an amazing job of putting up trail markers so you can always see one.  It turned into a fun game with my six year old son, Avery, to see if he could always find a trail marker.

This isn’t a huge property, so the trail winds a lot and has many hairpin turns.  It is easy to become disoriented, which makes the trail markers that much more critical.

My favorite part of the trail was the rock scrambles and the elevation gains and declines.  Avery, however, had us all helping him find and catch small frogs that we found all over the place.  I think we must have caught (and quickly released!) a dozen frogs.  We first heard and then felt through the ground 3 deer before seeing them dart across the ridge before us.

At one point, we went off the trail slightly to what appeared to be an overlook.  It did indeed turn out to overlook the sad remains of the beginning of house construction that appeared to have been abandoned several years ago.  It was interesting to see the ‘house skeleton’, as Avery called it. Derek, as always, enjoyed having a new place to photograph.

This preserve has all the important pieces for kid fun: bridges to throw stones off of, plenty of bugs and frogs to catch, rocks to climb and sit on, and fallen trees to walk across like balance beams.

For maps, directions and more information about the Singing Oaks Nature Preserve in Weston, click here.

Sections: Exploring Preserves with Kids