Climbing & Jumping on Rocks

I like rock climbing -- not traditional rock climbing with ropes (I'd probably like that too, I just haven't done much of it), but just climbing on big rocks, a bit of bouldering, a lot of scrambling, and some jumping from rock to rock too.  In my opinion, hiking around on a nice flat trail isn't too exciting, but a hike with a destination makes it an adventure (cool rocks to climb, a swimming hole or waterfall to get wet in, or some trail-finding and exploring).  Yesterday we invited a bunch of friends from church & from our neighborhood to do our favorite kid-friendly hike that's very close to home and works for all ages (the trail is even stroller friendly): hiking to the Penasquitos Canyon Waterfall from the Park Village Road trailhead.  It's a total of 2.2 miles, strollers can make it all the way to the rocks and then can be left to walk down to the water with the kids, there's often pretty good water flow there -- especially with all the rain we had last winter there is still plenty of water for the kids to wade and swim even in late June this year, and even if you're not getting wet the boulders there around the water are just so fun to climb on!  We had several families come with us yesterday, from young teens to babies in carriers, and from adventurous families to those who were new to this type of thing.  It was a lot of fun.  The kids enjoyed the water, and at the end the boys had a ball carrying large rocks to build a mini dam which actually did work to raise the water level in the little wading area about another foot or so deeper than it had been.  (I remember building dams in attempts to make swimming holes when I was a kid!)  I felt like I had a good mix of enjoying watching the kids play, getting a chance to chat with the other moms who joined us on the hike, and I also got in a little bit of climbing and jumping around on the rocks.  So it was a fun day.  And even though it was pretty hot out, there was plenty of water to keep the kids cool.  I wasn't taking any pictures there yesterday, but apparently my friend was taking pictures of the kids in the water at the same time that I happened to be jumping from one rock to another, and she snapped a few photos of me in the air.  (Kind of fun, since I don't usually get many pictures of myself on my hikes with the boys, except for the occasional selfie with me and the kids).