Camping: Day Three

After our fun hiking day the day before, we set out on another hike in search of the highest waterfalls located entirely in our state (some higher falls share a border). This hike was a little more strenuous with lots of stairs and ups and downs along the trail. We saw very little wildlife, though J got to see an enormous woodpecker before it flew off, and we saw the skeleton of a fairly large animal - a deer perhaps?

The kids did great.

Here's the overlook to the falls, which fall 70 feet to the river below.

This suspension bridge allowed us to cross over the river, rather than through it like our river crossing the day before. It was pretty springy and only five people were allowed on the bridge at a time.

Nobody get on! I'm number five!

The view from the observation deck on the other side of the river after crossing the bridge.

I could barely let the kids stand near the edge of the deck.

Meaty wanted J to lift him up so he could see...I about had a heart attack.

Vivs is not a fan of heights.

150 steps down to the bottom.

The kids were ready to sit for a while and play.

Meaty loves to throw rocks.

He was making a hilarious face every time he chucked one in.

There it is - see that curled tongue?

After our hike, we chilled back at our site and back down to the lake to climb on rocks.

J found this kids-loved-but-I-think-is-creepy caterpillar. That hook on the end gives me the heebie-geebies.

Apparently, this is a tomato hookworm caterpillar which also feeds on plenty of things out in the wild.

This big boy looks well fed.

Yes, I realize it looks like a cult community living here.

No wonder we thought the site was small. But it actually was a small site.

We borrowed the tent on the far right from my sister so that all four of us could sleep on "comfortable" beds (air mattresses for the kids and I, a cot for J). The middle tent is our tent and we used it as a covered place to keep our bags and a covered/bug free place for the kids to play.  The screened tent on the left simply covered our picnic table and our camp stove. This was awesome - we could cook and eat without flies which were plentiful at certain times of the day.

Bananz holding Mr. Creepy

All in all, we had a great time camping. The weather was great and we were healthy and injury free this time. While we wouldn't camp in that particular campground again due to the noise, we'd definitely tent camp again and would try the cart-in again. It was fun family time and we're looking forward to going again!