Before this trip, like literally the night before, I finally researched some hikes. My problem is that I don't like to plan too far in advance because I forget everything. But leaving it to the last minute is problematic too, because then I don't have enough time to properly research the hikes. I'm still scarred from that year we went on the horse poop trail in the Smoky Mountains and wasted a hike. So I did my homework the night before, and of the listed hikes, I decided we should try to do Upper Creek Falls Loop, since it was short, nearby, and had a promising name.
The hike started out in a beautiful forest, where we hiked downhill to the falls. Simon loves gatorade and often can't wait to start drinking it on a hike.
We soon came to a beautiful spot where the trail crossed a river.
One direction appeared to drop off the face of the earth. The other direction looked innocent enough, but it led up to a great sliding rock with a pool beneath it.
I hiked up a trail above the slide to watch the kids go down. Zac stayed there and supervised the whole time from the other side.
Big sliding rock
After a while, the girls got cold and got out to have a snack. Zac and Simon hunted for critters in the rocks.
Eventually, we decided to continue the hike and head down to see the falls from below.
We eventually crossed the river again, and discovered another sliding rock area!
Small Sliding Rock
Lower Sliding Rock
The kids eventually got tired and cold and came back up to have snacks.
I couldn't believe how lucky we'd gotten on this hike! The trail itself was quite lovely, but to find three waterslides was an unexpected bonus. Poor Simon wanted to do the slides, but was unwilling to get in the freezing cold water. We eventually completed the loop and hiked back up along switchbacks to get to the parking lot. What a fun day!
