Dragonfly Trail at Mueller Park

Before leaving on Sunday, the three of us decided to take a short walk on the family-friendly Dragonfly Trail. At first Morgan was protesting that she didn't want to go on a long hike again, but when we showed her how short the trail actually was (a small loop around a small pond) she was game.

The loop has lots of interactive signs and activities for the kids to participate in. Morgan was able to read some of the signs out loud to us so she was pretty proud of that. We were also impressed with how much knowledge she has of the great outdoors.


Below she is seeing how far she can jump compared to other animals.


And one of her favorite activities - matching scat to the correct animals. She's a real pro at this.

Looking to see what kind of insects can be found in dead trees. She thought it was neat to learn that ants are like candy to bears.


We saw lots and lots of the trail's namesake.



We were extremely fortunate to see another one of the ponds local residence. The pond is a breeding ground for the Tiger Salamander. While walking across one of the boardwalks, a larva swam right up to us and seemed to stare at us for awhile before swimming back under the boards. It was one of the neatest things I have ever seen. It looked so magical with its barrs flaring out around it's head, almost like a wise dragon. I was not able to capture it on film, but the following picture gives you an idea of what it looked like.

After completing the loop the first time, Morgan wanted to go around and do it again. Unfortunately we had to pack up and check out of our campsite.