Waterfall Hike

We went on a hike yesterday to a beautiful waterfall.  It is a fairy short hike (1.2 miles roundtrip), so we figured it would be a perfect hike for testing out how long James was willing to hike on his own without being put into the backpack carrier.  James did amazing!  He hiked the whole way to the waterfall and the entire way back as well.

Although James is young, we made a point of discussing what James should do if he were to lose Mommy and Daddy on the trail...sit on the trail and wait until Mommy or Daddy came.  In order to make sure he understood, my husband asked "What should Daddy do if he looses James and Mommy?" and James responded "Sit on the trail and wait for James and Mommy."  We also reiterated that waterfalls are dangerous (a word we try to reserve for seriously dangerous stuff), and we do not play in the water near the waterfall.  Amazingly James already remembered some of the information about waterfalls being dangerous from some of our hikes and camping episodes from last year.

After the boys had a snack, we did allow them to play in some of the run-off water far from the waterfall area.  James mostly enjoyed throwing rocks into the water and climbing the rocks although he did walk around in the water a little bit.  His feet would get too cold pretty fast, though, and he would return to throwing rocks into the water.  Sam, on the other hand, loved walking through the water, and he could last quite awhile before he was getting too cold and needed a little break.

It was a beautiful day for a hike, and we enjoyed just getting into the outdoors as a family.  We are looking forward to many more hikes and camping trips as a family now that the weather is getting warmer.