Cascades

cascades Jigsaw Puzzle

As promised, here are some pictures from our hike yesterday. I didn't get to shoot very much for trying to hold the reins on four boys, So you will just have to imagine the trillium and violets blooming in the patches of snow. This hike was not without its little adventures. First off, Briana hurt her ankle before we even left the house, but being a stoic trooper she managed to make it halfway to the falls. I commended her fortitude and her response was "I probably wouldn't be (so stoic) if I didn't play with boys all the time!"

It wasn't far into the hike before the boys gave us quite a scare. They ran ahead of us, crossed the first bridge, and instead of turning along the creek and following the trail, they high-tailed it straight up the hill and out of sight before we knew it. I was trying to make my first shots when Dave came back to get me to walk with the girls while he hunted down the boys. I very quickly escalated to the panic stage, and even stopped another hiker to ask for a cell phone to call 911. She didn't have one, so nothing else left to do but pray! I couldn't stop thinking about that little boy scout lost at Doughton Park for 3 days. It was already fairly late in the day and knowing it would be below freezing cold again at night, I wanted the search crews to get started right away! Well, 5 minutes later, when I caught up to the girls, lo and behold, there was David and the boys with them! Who knows how they managed to scamper back to the trail so fast, but what a relief!!

At the halfway point, Dave volunteered to escort the girls back to the van and allowed me to go to the falls with the boys. It's another one of those previously unfulfilled things from my college days. So what with trying to keep 4 boys on the trail (mostly successful), keep them from beaning each other on the head with rocks (thankfully, successful), and keeping them out of the creek and dry (completely unsuccessful) I hardly had any time to look through the viewfinder. It was unbearably cold at the falls, so I only snapped a couple before my hands were throbbing, but here they are:



Here's some other pics from the hike:

Little Stony Creek

I told you it's been freezing cold!!

BOYS - Schmoys!! They are no match for the intrepid Miss Charlotte!