On Saturday, September 22, 2018 we headed up to Spearfish Canyon for our nearly-annual fall hiking adventure (2012, 2014, 2016, 2017).
Thought the littles hats and Ezra's reading were cute on the way up there.
We first stopped at The Latchstring Inn to walk down to Spearfish Falls.
I walked across the highway to take in the Spearfish Canyon Lodge and the trees just starting to change.
Heading down.
Pretty bridge once you get to the bottom.
My cute little photographer Samuel.
The kids fought over who got to stand on this tree trunk.
Windy path through the trees.
Spearfish Falls.
Again with more color...
...and kids!
Down from the waterfall the kids were looking for fish.
Noah took our picture.
Evie did not like Samuel taking her picture. 😂
Next, like last year, we parked just past the Lodge and hiked up to Roughlock Falls. I guess we could've parked right next to this fun little dam.
We visited it again and watched the fishes and the leaves going down the waterfall.
Fish!
So pretty right here.
Looking back down the bridge.
Pretty purple flowers.
On the trail again.
A break in the trees.
The weekend before Amanda and I had discussed the possibility of going to up to Spearfish for the following weekend since it looked to get cold after that. It worked out for both of us and even though there was no cell service in the canyon we were able to meet up on the trail.
We stood around visiting for quite a while.
Julia and Naomi were quite interested in Samuel's camera.
We even let Julia give it a try.
Super cute how they were posing for her.
Here's one of her shots.
Evie and Abigail were on cloud nine since all they had wanted to do that day was have a playdate and were disappointed to have to go on a beautiful hike. Lame-o's.
The O's went on down the trail and we went on up, but didn't get far before we ran into another family we knew, Ron, Roberta, and Luke.
Roughlock Falls was just around the corner.
Be-a-u-tiful!
Family shot minus me. This is also where Stephanie got married in 2011 when Samuel was a baby.
We turned around to leave and ran back into the O's.
Love them!
They returned the favor and took our family picture.
Up and down I like better.
Once again we had the kids pose on the big rock before heading up the trail.
The girls had to have their own photo op.
Looking down the creek from the bridge.
From the top of the falls.
Chatty chat time.
Up above at the parking area the girls were further posing for Samuel.
His viewpoint.
And jump!
We kept walking up the creek.
Just so beautiful. You must pardon so many photos.
Moses didn't want to dub but Noah insisted.
More jumping!
Evie and Abigail took the opportunity to practice their song for Sunday school that was meant to illustrate what they had learned about righteousness.
The O's had to leave and we kept going on up the creek as far as we could, to a pool I'd never been to.
BEAUTIFUL.
Look at that water! It was at least six feet deep, super turquoise blue, and you could see fish swimming around in it. It was be so much fun to return in the summer and jump in.
I was in love with the waterfall and the light and the tree and the pool.
Crazy beautiful.
From the top.
The water was very cold, but Samuel and Evie got used to it...and their feet and legs turned red.
Splish splash.
Eventually everyone visited the top of the waterfall, and this was when the littles followed me.
Heading back down the trail.
Overlooking the waterfall from the other side.
Down where we had been already. I have pretty clear memories of climbing down into that water and jumping from stone to stone when I was little, before they changed the trail. You can't go down there anymore.
A little further along.
It's now become a tradition to throw the helicopter seeds into the air over the waterfall and record them in slow motion.
Heading back down the trail.
On the lower bridge again, but prettier this time.
On and on.
Noah tried to imitate Tilly's exasperation on the Utah trip when they were "holding" up this rock.
The kids loved all the little chipmunks we saw and didn't want to leave them.
One of Samuel's decent photos from the front of the line.
When we were almost at the bottom we took the path into the field to look at the creek.
Looking up the canyon.
And back down.
I love that creek.
We hiked four miles on that trail and even more from the Spearfish Falls walk. It was a beautiful day. I was glad we went since we got a cold snap the following week and snow two weeks afterward.
No comments:
Post a Comment