Beautiful hike to a waterfall...
I'm gonna put this whole thing under a cut because there will be photos!
It took a while to get out this morning! We were hoping for a very early start, but that didn't quite happen. All the gear -"Of course I know where that is!"- wasn't quite where it was expected to be! But that's ok, the trailhead was pretty close in. The weather was supposed to be wet and grey, so we layered.
The planned hike is Bridal Veil Falls. It's on the way, mostly, to Lake Serene, which is supposed to be a fabulous place. The trail up there used to be closed, and the location passed hush-hush between hikers. They did rebuild it and it's been on our list of hikes to do ever since. The lake hike is still snowy, and probably too difficult for Linnea certainly, and probably all of us this early in the hiking season.
At the trailhead... we find that the pit potties aren't open. Locked, and there is trash all over the place. Consequences of the sequester, perhaps? I wasn't happy, since I'd checked before we left to make sure there were potties. Back to the highway, until we found a place where purchasing a cookie got me access to a place to pee. And then back to the trailhead.
Perry opted not to take his jacket. We told him we disagreed with that but he didn't want to tie it around his waist.
And up we went! We saw some twinflowers almost right away, which of course make Linnea happy!
The trail was pretty good, not the best, but not that interesting either: standard second growth. Perry and AC hauled ass up ahead.
A small sour note: we met a group of twenty-somethings on their way down and we all slowed down to negotiate passage on the narrow trail, and one of the women told Linnea she was almost there! in an excited tone. And then said "Just kidding, ha ha.". Yeah, not so funny, bitch. What a shitty thing to say to a kid.
AC and Perry committed a cardinal sin of hiking, the first time either of them has ever done that: they didn't stop at not one but two trail intersections. The reasoning was that the intersections were clearly marked, and that one direction was closed, so we had to know they'd never take a closed trail. I remain unconvinced. Heh. They did wait at the last one, where the Lake Serene trail and the Bridal Veil Falls trail split.
The trail gains most of the 800 ft of elevation in that last 1/2 mile: there were stairsteps. At one point, we crossed a stream about six times, switchbacking back and forth over it.
And then... the falls.
OMG.
I mean, really.
There were freaking spectacular. Lots of spray, so photography was limited. I had my SLR with me but it was too wet for that, we all got pretty soaked. There was wind from the water and it was cool and chilly, and just all around wonderful.
Here's a different perspective:
We also took some video.
One more, this one with me in it.
Click on any of the photos to get to the flickr site with the rest of the photos, and some more video.
Actually, I won't embed it, but this shows how windy the local area was!
As we were leaving a family with two kids showed up, the kids of course ahead of the parents. They were about to hop over the log (we did too) and I yelled at them to stay on the trail until their parents got there. I shouldn't have, maybe, but it's a safety thing.
Perry was pretty wet, of course, since he'd elected not to bring his jacket. The rest of us were a bit damp, but we headed down the trail, and eventually got home in time for the kids to play with friends!
It was lots of fun. The kids were not too whiny, the trail was nice, and the waterfall is one of the best I've seen. It was good. I love hiking, and this was a great start to the 2013 season!
It took a while to get out this morning! We were hoping for a very early start, but that didn't quite happen. All the gear -"Of course I know where that is!"- wasn't quite where it was expected to be! But that's ok, the trailhead was pretty close in. The weather was supposed to be wet and grey, so we layered.
The planned hike is Bridal Veil Falls. It's on the way, mostly, to Lake Serene, which is supposed to be a fabulous place. The trail up there used to be closed, and the location passed hush-hush between hikers. They did rebuild it and it's been on our list of hikes to do ever since. The lake hike is still snowy, and probably too difficult for Linnea certainly, and probably all of us this early in the hiking season.
At the trailhead... we find that the pit potties aren't open. Locked, and there is trash all over the place. Consequences of the sequester, perhaps? I wasn't happy, since I'd checked before we left to make sure there were potties. Back to the highway, until we found a place where purchasing a cookie got me access to a place to pee. And then back to the trailhead.
Perry opted not to take his jacket. We told him we disagreed with that but he didn't want to tie it around his waist.
And up we went! We saw some twinflowers almost right away, which of course make Linnea happy!
The trail was pretty good, not the best, but not that interesting either: standard second growth. Perry and AC hauled ass up ahead.
A small sour note: we met a group of twenty-somethings on their way down and we all slowed down to negotiate passage on the narrow trail, and one of the women told Linnea she was almost there! in an excited tone. And then said "Just kidding, ha ha.". Yeah, not so funny, bitch. What a shitty thing to say to a kid.
AC and Perry committed a cardinal sin of hiking, the first time either of them has ever done that: they didn't stop at not one but two trail intersections. The reasoning was that the intersections were clearly marked, and that one direction was closed, so we had to know they'd never take a closed trail. I remain unconvinced. Heh. They did wait at the last one, where the Lake Serene trail and the Bridal Veil Falls trail split.
The trail gains most of the 800 ft of elevation in that last 1/2 mile: there were stairsteps. At one point, we crossed a stream about six times, switchbacking back and forth over it.
And then... the falls.
OMG.
I mean, really.
There were freaking spectacular. Lots of spray, so photography was limited. I had my SLR with me but it was too wet for that, we all got pretty soaked. There was wind from the water and it was cool and chilly, and just all around wonderful.
Here's a different perspective:
We also took some video.
One more, this one with me in it.
Click on any of the photos to get to the flickr site with the rest of the photos, and some more video.
Actually, I won't embed it, but this shows how windy the local area was!
As we were leaving a family with two kids showed up, the kids of course ahead of the parents. They were about to hop over the log (we did too) and I yelled at them to stay on the trail until their parents got there. I shouldn't have, maybe, but it's a safety thing.
Perry was pretty wet, of course, since he'd elected not to bring his jacket. The rest of us were a bit damp, but we headed down the trail, and eventually got home in time for the kids to play with friends!
It was lots of fun. The kids were not too whiny, the trail was nice, and the waterfall is one of the best I've seen. It was good. I love hiking, and this was a great start to the 2013 season!