Rocky Mouth

I asked some friends if they want to go hiking before the fall slips away, I suggested Rocky Mouth.  I hadn't been on that one, I'd just driven by the trailhead.  My friend said it doesn't count as a hike cause it's like .25 miles top.  So it's not "hike" enough for the moms to use as an escape from the rush of family life, but I figured it'd work for a short family outing.  We went on Thursday evening ~ we left too late after dinner and it was a tad too dark - the little ones couldn't relax cause it was so spooky/creepy.  We left at 7:40 and were home by 8:20 and the kids were impressed with themselves that they didn't die from the imaginary bears in the caves waiting to attack.  We resolved to try it again in the daytime and so we went again this morning after breakfast.

 It was so pretty!

 

And just around that corner above is the mouth of the rock where the waterfall comes through - just a trickle now, we'll have to come back to see what it's like in the spring.

 

We're thinking "I guess we didn't need to go all the way to Costa Rica to have a wild jungle experience." It really doesn't take much to impress these kids, just a little effort on our part to make some simple childhood memories for them...

(Lily so proud of herself that she's on top of the big rock)
Time to head back down - the pretty sunshine glistening through the trees ~ a little corner of heaven.

This little trail is the perfect fit for our family as a group: Pretty with enough trees for me to enjoy, short enough for parents to endure while carrying toddlers, easy enough for kids to walk most of it, little side areas for the tough big kids to show their cool wannabe rock rappelling skills, a few spooky caves to sober them all up, a small waterfall, it's just great. I was able to carry Sophia up in the maya wrap without getting sweaty.

Sophia's all tuckered out, but all the other kids are ready to go out everyday for the rest of the autumn season.  :)  My master plan is working!