The park is full of classrooms we have used over the years.
As always it is your job to conduct a thorough Site Assessment each and every time you visit a site.
Sites South of the Parking Lot in Lower Peterson
White Tail Meadow – the picnic area
Squirrel’s Den – used mostly with very young children in the first few weeks of preschool
Cottonwood Forest – location of the Parent & Child classes and many other community classes as an outdoor classroom
Fir Forest – high traffic, low impact due to a lot of pre-existing compaction
Pine Hollow – used occasionally as one of our final preschool classrooms in a session
South Bank – summer camp site
Secret Bridge – at the base of a steep eroding cliff and on Springhill Creek. Children love it. I do not.
Sites North of the Parking Lot in Lower Peterson
Sandy Digging Hill – adjacent to the picnic area
Woodpeckers Woods – heavily used by the community and much loved by children used by both preschool and camp
Curly Willow Bend – a child favorite used by both preschool and camp
North Bank – very exposed site below the car bridge. Excellent location for bridge building. Used by both preschool and camp
Sites along & West of Xget’tem Trail
Secret Beach – super fun, super sandy, tons of garbage, low daytime traffic and very sun exposed
Mini Bike Park – a nice stopping point to break up a journey to the top. Built by children.
Super Secret Bridge – located in Sahali Terrace Nature park there are actually two bridges near here
Switchback Forts – I don’t actually remember exactly where this is but we built forts for hours with dead ponderosa branches here with kindergarten.
Sahali Secondary – an excellent place for splitting up and ‘losing’ each other because you will easily find the field
Sites in Upper Peterson
Secret Pond – an excellent camp location with a natural keyline puddle. Very big, low traffic with lots of options.
There are others. We honestly played at or near secret pond for the entire week we did camp at the top.
Hikes with Distances
When planning a hike with small children it is helpful to have an idea of what you are getting into.
Every hike in Peterson that leaves the creek bed has significant elevation gain and is very sun exposed so hike early or on a cloudy day, inspire them with a challenge or secret mission and take lots of breaks.
Parking lot to Secret Pond – 2.5km
Parking lot to East Bench above waterfall lookout – 1.7km
Parking lot to Waterfall – <1km
Parking lot to top of Xget-tem – 2km
Note: there is a parallel single track trail along most of this to the switchback. I suggest taking it on your way up and the pavement on the way down.
Parking lot to Super secret bridge – 1.1km
Parking lot to Rivers Trail at Bike Park – 2.2km
Parking lot to Riverside Park – 2km
Complete loop – 6km