Identifying trees and leaves at Pocahontas State Park
Pocahontas State Park is the largest of Virginia’s state parks and the closest to our Richmond home. My children and I needed another day of adventure out in nature that included biking, hiking, swimming and learning about Mother Nature.
This summer, we’ve been trying to visit more of Virginia’s best outdoor locations and the 8,000-acre park in Chesterfield County had everything we needed.
We biked about four miles on the double track trails. My kids couldn’t make it up every hill so there was a little walking. There is no shame in that. I’ve biked trails at Pocahontas many times and had to walk my bike up a hill or two. The best news here is that they learned they could do it.
Working on field journals
The park offers excellent programs daily. We had fun with field guides and learned how to identify trees by their leaves, bark and location. It was great to watch both Mitchell and Carly when they started to get it. Identifying trees is an important skill. We figured there were probably at least 400,000 of them at Pocahontas State Park, but we stopped after about a dozen.
We learned a lot more about trees than we bargained for, but we weren’t done. Next, we enjoyed nature journaling and sketching. We couldn’t believe how easy and fun it was to create fun art with leaf rubbing and tracing. Now we’re looking forward to fall.
The pool at Pocahontas State Park
After all of that, we had to cool off. Pocahontas State Park has a great pool — especially for children. Slides, water fountains, a water playground.
We have been there before, but after a day of biking, hiking and learning, the pool hit the spot. Another great day in the Virginia outdoors.
Phil Riggan 