Stewart Falls

The summer is fast drawing to a close as school starts on August 19th.  That feels really early to me.  We made a list of things to do this summer, and we have needed to cross several of them off the list.  Hiking to Stewart Falls made the list again, but I haven't loved the thought of dragging the children on the hike again.  They did really well when we went last year, and they did great hiking to the Y this year, but I really wanted to hike from the Sundance side of the falls, rather than all the way from Aspen Grove.  

We got lucky!  My friend Heather's parents have a cabin up behind Sundance, and Heather has the code to the gate that gets you through to the trailhead.  So today Grandma Sue came over, we punched in the code at the gate, and we were able to shorten the hike considerably.  Instead of taking nearly an hour, it took us about 20 minutes.  A good portion of the trail was shaded by trees, it wasn't too steep, and I think we only stopped for a drink of water once.  It was just the right amount of time for the kids to be happy and enjoy it and not whine at all.  There was a slight breeze, too, so although we were hiking in the middle of the day--we got there around 1pm--it wasn't too hot.  And the water was cold, of course.

We had a great time, tromped across the stream formed by the falls, and got wet.  Blythe wanted to go under the falls from one side to the other, but only until I pointed out that the only was to go from one side to the other was through the falls, and then she quickly didn't want to do that.  Brandt wanted to hike up higher, but we wouldn't let him as it looked incredibly dangerous.  

On the way back to the car from the falls, we somehow took a wrong turn.  Grandma Sue and I were in the rear with Blythe, while Kent and Brandt were leading on, and after we'd gone a short distance and began having to really bend over to go under low hanging branches, I commented that I didn't remember the trail being quite so overgrown as we had come up.  Kent tried to reassure me, but Sue and I quickly became convinced we were not on the trail.  We weren't.  We were almost crawling along under  shrubbery, crawling over small fallen trees, and feeling very much like deer on a deer trail.  The trail eventually led to the stream running down from the falls, not really anywhere close to the trail.  Funnily enough, there was another family right behind us.  I am almost absolutely convinced that we let them astray, but they assured us it wasn't our fault.  Kent had to forge a path through brush and trees, heading always in the general direction of the trail, and eventually we broke through and found it, but not before everyone was stung by stinging nettle and scraped on some part of their bodies.  It was an adventure.

Come join us for the next one.

Falls in the distance

Happy hikers, though you would never know it.

 

 

We weren't the only ones braving the heat and hiking.

 

Both Brandt and Blythe wanted wet hats to keep their heads cool.

Here is Kent, forging a trail.

Literally.

This is what we were "hiking" through.

We were like little deer.