So we headed out of town--the long way because I forgot about the freeway entrance that is just 2 blocks from the church, and instead drove through downtown and across the river and made my way to another freeway entrance. Then I took what I though to be the right exit, but whoops, this wasn't right, it must have been the last exit. Oh, well, we'll just find a nice hike somewhere along this road, since I know we'll eventually come to an area that has a bunch of hiking trails. Boy, at this point I'm really wishing we had some water and a snack, if we're actually going to go on a hike instead of just playing by the river at the end of a little town. Oh, and it would be nice if we had better shoes for hiking in.
Oh well, I'm sure we'll find something good. We pass one hiking spot and it is packed with cars. No way, let's find something less crowded. Ah ha! A wide spot in the road and a little trial! No other cars, so we have the place to ourselves! I pull over and we all pile out and head up the trail. It only goes about 10 feet.
OK, pile back in and drive on. A remembers a trail around here that their dad took them on last year and we decide we'll try to find it. Success! We see a sign that says Horsetail Falls Trail, and it is only 0.8 miles. Great! We find a parking place, pile back out, decide we're not thirsty yet, so we can handle this short little hike. At least it will be wet at the end (where A remembers being able to go behind the waterfall), so we'll be able to cool down, if not get a drink. A doesn't remember the parking area looking like this, but maybe we're coming at it from the other side? Anyway, not to be deterred, I urge on the team. About 20 feet in to the hike M decides to do a tricky little gymnastics move and tumbles over the side of the trail, but manages to grab a branch before falling all the way down to the road (which fortunately wasn't all that far). That's OK, a small mishap early on can be a good thing if it keeps you out of trouble later.
We climb up and up and up, then things level out a bit and it is lovely being in the beautiful woods. Boy, it sure seems like we've gone more than 0.8 miles. Finally, we hear the roar of water, and come around a corner to a spectacular sight of a stream rushing between two mountains of rock. A little bridge crosses over the stream about 20 feet above the water, with deadly drop-offs leading up to the bridge on both sides! We kind of inch our way onto the bridge, bravely march across, and inch our way up the other side until we get back into zigzagging up another hill. We regroup a bit up there. Well, M is thirsty and has to go to the bathroom in a way that isn't so easy to do outdoors, but he can wait a while. A is hot and tired, but really, really wants to be able to walk behind that waterfall. So we press on since the trail has gotten easier, and we just know we must be close.
Needless to say, we never did find the waterfall you could walk behind. Maybe it was 0.8 miles to the start of the trail that will take you to Horsetail Falls? We turned around after we'd been walking for about an hour, mostly uphill (with no water and bad shoes). I can't tell you how often our outings turn out this way. I like to think I have a great sense of adventure and know how to be flexible when Plan A doesn't work out. In fact, I just take the wrong exit more often that I care to admit, and then the thought of backtracking to get to the original destination seems like a drag, and surely there is plenty of good to be had off this exit, too, right? Thank heavens my kids indulge me these adventures, and we almost always have a good time. And, the kids have another funny story to tell their kids about how Grandma used to lead them on these crazy adventures, even confident that she was going the right way... (or anyway, that this way will be just as good)
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