Waterfall Success!

So last fall-ish sometime, we tried to find a waterfall that was rumored to be north of town. We failed and ended up on a three mile hike to nowhere. After some discussion with people who actually knew how to get to the waterfall, we decided to give it another try on a beautiful day off from school recently. We rounded up a few friends, packed a lunch, and started off.

And we would have failed once again to find the waterfall because we missed the cut-off, which looks exactly like the picture above. We had headed about 300 yards down the wrong trail when we met a nice man and his grandson who told us we were going the wrong way and sent us back in the right direction. Thank goodness! I don't think any of us could have handled failing again!

So finally after one wrong turn and a mile and a half hike of pretty much straight uphill (carrying Marissa most of the way), we reached the elusive waterfall. It was worth it! We ate our lunch and the kids played there for hours.

The waterfall was much bigger than we anticipated and there were very cool rocks to climb on nearby.

And an island to jump to.

Marissa was quite happy once we reached the waterfall. She loved following the older kids around and putting her toes in the freezing water.

She loves to be outside.

The little rock climbers. No fear for any of them.

Photo op on a big rock with the city far below. Just to prove how high we climbed! There were many moments when we all wanted to give up and go home, but we were all so glad we stuck with it and made it. The kids can't wait to go back! We hear there are frogs in the springtime...