Wallace Falls Hike

Although we go on a lot of nature walks and hikes through the local parks, we haven't done anything longer than maybe 2 miles.  Now that the boys are 3½ and 5½, we thought that we might try a day hike.  We had gone to Wallace Falls for Valentine's Day when Buddy was just a baby, and we've been wanting to go back ever since.  Last time, we took our stroller so we got no where near the falls as well so this time our goal was to make it to Middle Falls which was about 1.8 miles from the trailhead.

Sign at the beginning of the hike

Since we knew we'd be out pretty much all day, Phil and I packed a couple of backpacks with food, water and other things we thought we might need to help the kids make the almost 4 mile roundtrip.  Buddy thought that our packs were pretty cool, and he wanted to bring his own.  I wasn't sure he'd be up for the challenge, but he wore it the entire time.  Mostly, it carried just the boys water, but we did find it helpful.

Buddy at the smaller falls

Taking in the view through binoculars

This little chipmunk enjoyed our crumbs we dropped from our lunch at the Lower Falls.

I was so proud of both my boys.  Buddy made it the whole way there and back again while carrying his backpack and even made comments about how next time he wants to make it all the way to the Upper Falls.  Except for the last 200 feet or so (mostly just because we couldn't see the end), Button walked the entire way up the hike.  We did carry him a bit on the way down, but he did over 3 miles on his own.  They were great sports.  Button keeps talking about seeing the "biggest waterfall ever".

We made it!

View of the Lower Falls

On the way back, we stopped a bit.  The boys took off their shoes and cooled their feet in the river.

It was a beautiful, fun day, and I hope that we can do more day hikes in the future.