Ok, I have been wanting to tackle this hike again since we went in early June and had a great time (except that I think I must have gotten overheated or something that day, because I've never gotten sick from hiking before and I felt awful by the end of the hike last time). So I've been waiting and waiting to go again when the whether was cool enough, and the boys have the week off school so we went today. We got on the trail at 10:40am. Last time we went was on a holiday and on a nice sunny Saturday, so there were quite a few people on the trail, and today was a weekday that was supposed to be rather cold, cloudy, and possibly a little rainy, so we were fortunate to not have to share the trail with too many other hikers. Because of that, I decided to take the dogs, and we even decided to let them off leash, which was great -- they got out so much energy running around, and they were very well behaved when we passed other hikers (they were the only dogs on this trail today, so that made it easy). This was Berkley's first real big hike, and she did great. The boys did really well on this hike, which is rather intense -- actually, hiking down into the canyon and up to the falls is a breeze and went pretty quickly, it's just the hiking back uphill to get out once you're worn out at the end of the day that can take some time. Luckily it wasn't hot at all this time -- it was a high of 50 degrees, and just windy enough to make it a little chilly occasionally (except for the kids who either chose to get into the water or fell into the water, who were pretty cold as the sun went behind the clouds on the hike back out). For me, I think going on a day when the high is 60 or 65 degrees would be just about perfect -- not too chilly, but not hot enough to need to carry a ton of water and no chance of heat stroke. Of course, most of the hikers there today were not swimming like so many were in June -- the water was quite cold! We enjoyed all the bouldering along the stream, and the boys and I hiked the narrow side trails up from the lower falls to the second and third falls -- those narrow little trails along the edge of the hillside going up there were a little sketchy in a couple places, but the boys did great. Oh, and there was a ton more water in the falls this time than when we went back in June, so the waterfalls were really rushing today. Kolby slipped in the water at the lower falls and hit his knee on a rock, and Camden hurt his foot when he accidentally stepped in a hole between two rocks, so it was rather slow going on the hike back out, but they had good enough attitudes about it, so it wasn't too bad. We got back to the car by 5:05pm -- so we were all ready for a rest after over 6 hours out there. There were some really beautiful sunset views as we drove down the dirt road on the way home, and some cool close-up sightings of hawks flying low over the road. After having to pull over a few times for motion-sick kids, we finally made it home, happy and worn out, just before 7:00pm.
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| Camden |
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| Isaac |
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Courtland
And look at the difference in the amount of water between June (left) & today (right), after lots of rain here this winter: |
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| The sunset from the dirt road drive back from the trailhead towards Ramona. |
Ok, I have been wanting to tackle this hike again since we went in early June and had a great time (except that I think I must have gotten overheated or something that day, because I've never gotten sick from hiking before and I felt awful by the end of the hike last time). So I've been waiting and waiting to go again when the whether was cool enough, and the boys have the week off school so we went today. We got on the trail at 10:40am. Last time we went was on a holiday and on a nice sunny Saturday, so there were quite a few people on the trail, and today was a weekday that was supposed to be rather cold, cloudy, and possibly a little rainy, so we were fortunate to not have to share the trail with too many other hikers. Because of that, I decided to take the dogs, and we even decided to let them off leash, which was great -- they got out so much energy running around, and they were very well behaved when we passed other hikers (they were the only dogs on this trail today, so that made it easy). This was Berkley's first real big hike, and she did great. The boys did really well on this hike, which is rather intense -- actually, hiking down into the canyon and up to the falls is a breeze and went pretty quickly, it's just the hiking back uphill to get out once you're worn out at the end of the day that can take some time. Luckily it wasn't hot at all this time -- it was a high of 50 degrees, and just windy enough to make it a little chilly occasionally (except for the kids who either chose to get into the water or fell into the water, who were pretty cold as the sun went behind the clouds on the hike back out). For me, I think going on a day when the high is 60 or 65 degrees would be just about perfect -- not too chilly, but not hot enough to need to carry a ton of water and no chance of heat stroke. Of course, most of the hikers there today were not swimming like so many were in June -- the water was quite cold! We enjoyed all the bouldering along the stream, and the boys and I hiked the narrow side trails up from the lower falls to the second and third falls -- those narrow little trails along the edge of the hillside going up there were a little sketchy in a couple places, but the boys did great. Oh, and there was a ton more water in the falls this time than when we went back in June, so the waterfalls were really rushing today. Kolby slipped in the water at the lower falls and hit his knee on a rock, and Camden hurt his foot when he accidentally stepped in a hole between two rocks, so it was rather slow going on the hike back out, but they had good enough attitudes about it, so it wasn't too bad. We got back to the car by 5:05pm -- so we were all ready for a rest after over 6 hours out there. There were some really beautiful sunset views as we drove down the dirt road on the way home, and some cool close-up sightings of hawks flying low over the road. After having to pull over a few times for motion-sick kids, we finally made it home, happy and worn out, just before 7:00pm. 
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