365 Days of my Life: Wadsworth Falls: A perfect Morning Hike

I swore I was not going to do anything too exciting today, since I have to work tonight AND have an 11 hour day to work tomorrow. I also swore I was not going to make the boys go for any more hikes in the winter, since they tend to become quite chilly, quite fast. Well, I didn't follow my own rules, and we had a BLAST.

It took us about 30 minutes to drive there, which is not a bad trip at all. Both boys had heavy winter coats, hats, and mittens. I was also glad that I happened to grab the Boba carrier on the way out the door. You never know what Carter is going to be like on a trail, until you get on the trail, and today he wanted nothing to do with walking. There are two breathtaking waterfalls located on two separate hiking trails in the park. There are the "Big Falls" and the "Little Falls." The last time I was at this park was in 2009 before we moved across the country, and I remembered how rugged that hike was to the big falls causing me to choose the hike to the "Little Falls." I showed Pierce a park map with all of the trails on it, and had him trace the route we were going to take with his finger. It teaches him how to follow a map, and it allowed him to tell me what colors we were going to follow. I had Carter yelling out the colors of the rectangles he saw while riding along my back, and I had Pierce showing me where they were. Of course to Carter, every color was yellow. But Pierce would kindly correct him, and lead us on our way with his trusty canine.

Parts of the trail were still snow covered, and some had melted down to mud. Of course we had to stop for every mud puddle and stomp a couple of times, causing extreme laughter and more laundry. :) It was quite windy, so I eventually flipped Carter to where he was facing me in the front, to try to give him a little more cover from the wind. Pierce was very proud of himself, and telling me how much he has grown, since he is hiking now instead of riding on mommy. And he is right. Some parts of the trail (towards the little falls), were really eroded, icy, and rocky. He started to panic a little bit, but I just reminded him how much of a big boy he is, and how worth it it would be when we got to the falls. He then took a deep breath, and watched where his feet were going instead of looking around, and he conquered it. No slips, no falls, not even a slide.

It was also a great learning experience for the boys to find wood pecker holes, missing bark on trees, mushrooms on trees, seeing two trees sharing the same trunk, finding masses of deer fur (poor deer), and of course trying to figure out why the water was as cold as ice, but still running and not freezing like a lake. Carter pointed out every leaf still on the trees from last year, and when nuts yelling "GREEN!" (yes, he was correct on that one), at the leaves on the Giant Laurel they have on the trail.

All in all, with Pierce hiking on his own, it took us two hours and a couple of resting stops along the way for his little legs to catch up. Pierce has already asked if we could "maybe go back when the trees have live leaves on them and the wind is not so cold." I told him not a problem, we certainly can. Maybe, we can even convince Carter to walk a little bit of it next time. :)

P.S. During the summer, there is a $6 weekday fee or a $9 weekend fee for state residents to enter the park. This will be where I REALLY hope the passes at the library gain me entry to the park. Also, great photo opportunities located within the park. There is a small covered bridge when you first enter, as well as various bridges on the trails and of course the falls themselves. Take a drive, and enjoy a fantastic day becoming acquainted with the outdoors.