Adventuring - Hiking Donut Falls

You know we have been doing a lot of adventuring this summer, but this is only our second hike. Teach and Twiz did the planning and our day included them and Twizlet, me, Curly, and Baby Doll. This was supposed to be an easy 3-mile hike, but it turned out a little different. 

When we got to the trailhead, there were tons of cars and people walking, so we were quite surprised that once we were on the trail, it was pretty quiet. I was hot and sticky and the kids were totally chill. We had our fanny packs with our water bottles and lunches and although we knew the water was running high, we were excited to see the falls. 

When we finally got to the actual water, scaled down a rock, and were on the bank, Twiz pointed out that to view the falls we were supposed to cross the river, but because Teach is pregnant and they had Twizlet, they weren't planning to do it. I thought that sounded sensible, but Baby Doll had other ideas.

She started out into the cold water by herself.

Curly headed after her and what could I do? I followed them. The water was about to Baby Doll's knees, so not quite that high, but it was cold from the snowy peaks above and running fast. Thankfully, there were fallen trees and rocks jutting out of the water that allowed us to make our way carefully across. 

At one point, Curly wanted to turn back, but then Baby Doll ventured out again, and what could we do? A boy if front of us was in tears when his flip-flop washed away with the water. His grandma nearly went down searching for it and I gently reminded her that her life was worth way more than a flip-flop and they continued on with only one shoe.

When we finally got to the other side, the water looked the same and we couldn't even see the falls. Apparently they were covered by too much water and the trail was totally impassable. The river was about 20 feet across and heading back, the kids felt like pros. Our shoes and socks were totally soaked and our feet were numb by the time we finally landed next to Teach and Twiz on dry ground, but we were all safe. 

"Did you get any pictures?"

Of course not! They ate lunch without us, oblivious to the fact that we could have been swept away at any moment. After scaling the rock and moving away from the river, I could finally relax a little as we made our way back to the car. 

I wonder where our next adventures will take us??