So after a brief nap, some lunch, and some bubble and fire play I decided to take Baylor for a walk. I told Mom we were going for a walk but since I did not know where we were going I was not able to tell her. We ended up on a trail that was right off the cabin road, Bear Walk Trail. Baylor liked to say the names of the letters he knew.
Another sign said it was a one mile trail. That did not sound too bad so we headed out. For the most part he lagged behind me and this just go worse the longer we walked. I suppose a long walk in the afternoon may not have been the best parenting choice but we had to keep moving forward once we started down the trail.
There were many beautiful views along the trail and these cute tiny white flowers.
This cave made from a blown over tree was a bit creepy and really looked like something had lived in there at one time. We took a peek and headed off before it came back.
Drawing in the dirt.
In fact most of the trail was a bit creepy and gigged me out after a while. I am not sure what it was, maybe because it was very dense forest and we only passed one couple on the walk. I knew the main road was always on our right but I rarely heard any vehicle noise. The park was pretty empty as it was still very early in the season. But bears are always in the park and that was in the back of my mind. I found this stick and in my head I called it my bear beater stick. I was a bit worried about bears and had scenarios of bears charging us and me taking pictures so when they found us they would be able to see our last moments. Nice thoughts I know.
Finally we got to the end of the trail. I have walked four laps around a track and that was a much longer mile than a track mile. It took longer too mostly because Baylor wanted to stop and draw in the mud or throw rocks in the mud puddles. He decided to walk right into one at one point and had to walk the rest of the trails in wet, muddy shoes.
So on this map we walked the dotted line going from the black circle on the right and ended up at the black rectangle with the star on the left. So looking at the map I figured I had three choices. I could take creepy Bear Walk Trail back to the cabin. I could walk along the road and if my parents were looking for us they could pick us up. Or we could take the long, pretty green dashed line trial that was labeled easy and would take us back to the same place we were hiking with Mom on Tuesday. Guess which one we took?
You guessed it, the Highland trail! Keep moving forward you know and since we may never come back here, who knows, I figured we should take the path we had not been on before. And while it was longer, I think it was worth it.
This was a split tree but the knot holes made a face in the wood like some sort of wood sprite.
Baylor had a stick off and on and they were used for a variety of tools including a bark basher.
Keep moving forward.
We came to the first little creek and Baylor hiked up his shorts so they would not get wet. His little legs look so cute.
He carefully rinsed off his shoes in the creek. I am sure they got wet again but he was happy about cleaning them off.
The creek was very beautiful as were all the creeks and falls we saw all week.
Baylor enjoys pulling faces now when I want to take his picture. Good thing he is cute no matter what he does. He wanted to pose on every rock we came across.
And a good thing he is not the kind of kid that runs head long into things or I would not have him standing inches from the edge of a huge boulder that dropped about 15 feet down. Someone should really question my parenting choices some time.
So half way through we arrived at the Midway Crevasse and passed through uneventfully.
Baylor would have loved to just have poked the dirt off all the roots of every overturned tree. But we were probably about three hours into our walk and I just wanted to keep moving forward. So after some poking we kept walking.
And climbing rocks.
I think this is my favorite picture of the whole trip. I love the color of the trees and him walking in them. He wanted me to take pictures of him walking towards me so there about 20 of them from this point to him walking past me. But this is overall my favorite.
And then we came along this sign and of course I wanted to see the falls. That trail is labeled for experienced hikers only but I figured we could manage two falls. And I was right.
Although I got a little panicky when we got here because it looks like it is a complete drop off to the bridge.
Thankfully it was just really steep stairs with no railings.
Unfortunately, since I wanted to move forward we did not walk down the path a bit to look up at the falls (darn it!) because they are one of the tallest falls on the trail.
This is looking upstream and is still very pretty.
Time to throw some rocks.
To get past the next falls we had to take the narrow path and go up the stairs. Not too bad so far.
And then nature called. He is pretty lucky to be a boy at these times.
Then up the stairs we went. He was still going strong at this point and I think he enjoyed the challenge of this trail. It was not boring at all.
And for me it was beautiful. And more chances to play with the camera settings.
And of course we threw more rocks into the water.
And in some places the water appeared to come out of the rocks themselves.
We did not have to walk across the log!
Finally we made it to this sign at the head of the trail. We made it! But there was still a lot of walking to do to get back.
And this is the hill we saw on Tuesday that we decided to not go down. Here we are now going up it and some one was finally wearing out.
Keep moving forward little buddy, you can do it.
Do you see the red star on the right of the trail now? We made it across the map in one piece.
After we go on the path out I carried him on my shoulders for about five minutes and he had to walk the rest of the way. And he was complaining the entire time how tired he was and he legs were not working any more. Until he saw two robins and ran to chase them off! Se we turned into the drive to our cabin and the neighbor, who I had never seen before, says to me she was glad to see us back. Dad is in the car with the neighbor's husband and Mom comes running to us apparently very glad to see us. We were gone for over four hours (like I knew because I did not have a watch and cells phones don't work up there) Mom got worried (it was only 6 PM not 8) and had even went to the park office to report us out there. They went to the office to tell them we had arrived and I got the lecture about telling people where you are and where you are going to walk, and take a watch etc.
No one wanted to hear about where we were and what we saw so I just took Baylor into our room, put on a movie, brought him something to eat and drink and we chilled out until he went to sleep. Then I went out to talk to Mom and she looked at the photos of our adventure. And it was a good one and we did great together. And made a wonderful memory! And as his mom, that is one of my primary goals.
I think I do pretty good at that.
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