I'd never been there so I didnt' know what to expect, and with 5 kids, I need to know what to expect--- the kids are unpredictable enough! Anyway, in late August we took a Saturday afternoon and went on an adventure.
Henry is under that big blue hat. I didn't dare let go of his sweaty little hand while I snapped the picture! The "hike" from the parking lot to the lighthouse is .8 miles. Not so bad, but it was really hot and humid. When we finally reached the lighthouse we were permitted to climb the beautiful spiral (and really scary) staircase up to a ladder, then we were in that top little room. I'm pretty sure it was 200* in that lovely little room. We quickly said, "yep, that is a view alright!" and then tried to get down. It took some coaxing to get Lily to go down the ladder but Michael was a rockstar helper and we made it down in 6 very sweaty pieces.
Henry is 3 feet off the ground and it was a rocky trail. Do you remember what little boys do when they see rocks? They pick them up of course! Every blessed rock! It took us forever! :) On the other hand, when you hike with a 2 and 4 year old, you notice all the things on the ground, even under the bushes that you'd never have seen. On the way up to the lighthouse we were astonished by how many butterflies we saw. On the way back it had tripled. They were EVERYWHERE. I actually noticed a guy tallying them and stopped and picked his brain about butterflies. I guess Elk Neck state park has an amazing butterfly population and we were there on the peek day of the summer, this gentleman was a huge butterfly guy and said he had never seen so many in all his years. It was amazing! I think our favorite was the zebra swallowtail. 
It is hard to tell, but under the edge of that bush we saw probably 25 little tiny butterflies! It was so cool. Like I said, hiking with a toddler gives you a whole new vantage point. :)
