Our morning started off just fine leaving Lafayette on time and taking some detours through Lafayette, and even with highway construction and a distracted guide, we made it to CCNA trail head by 10:00am to find the rest of our party as scheduled. Finally, we were ready to get our hikers moving down the trail when we discovered that a member of our party had locked her keys in the Jeep along with all of her gear and water. After making some calls, a trip to the Pond store, and allowing 3 ladies to “enjoy the moment” we were able to get the vehicle opened with a Slim Jim and get our trip started. The coolness of the morning air had started to warm, but still it was a great temperature to start with since we would be heading to the cooler temps in the creek beds. As all of the energetic group laughed and enjoyed the downhill start of the trail, I quickly brought them to reality and reminded them that we had to finish with the uphill climb. This was followed by a loud,overwhelming response of sighs and a question from “Adventurer Tom” that went something like, “You’ll have us picked up with 4-wheelers by then, right?”
As we got deeper into the hike it was evident that Fall is here. There were more leaves covering the trail than usual and many different types of fruits littered the path. My dog Bella joined us for the hike as she does quite often and quickly got into her “working” mode as she carried her own dog pack. I am always glad to see how many people enjoy having a dog with us. We kept a nice, easy pace stopping at each of the falls and enjoying the sounds of the water splashing off the rock and echoing off the walls of the creek bed. I always enjoy this hike because it is always changing with a new boulder that has worked its way free of the bluff or a new tree that has fallen over into the path just adding one more adventure of how to get around or through. As one hiker said, “Are you sure we go right? This looks impassible.”
We stopped for our lunch at one of the falls where we found the pool of water to be quite cold and refreshing, and some decided to kick off their shoes and take a dip, including Bella. Moving through to the last two falls was a fun challenge of navigating through what I call “the boulder field”, and it was fun to let everyone go ahead and watch them take different routes, figuring that their way might be better than another. Some teamed up and helped each other to overcome the obstacles like a boot camp drill. Finally, we were back to where we started, except the downhill was now uphill, and t
It was another great day to be on the trail and another great group of people to make new friends with. This trip included a lot of sets of friends, spouses, and co-workers who all enjoyed each other. Some were returning hikers, some new, and others were trying to get back into hiking. By the end of the day, we had all experienced a beautiful place with 25’ water falls that no one knew could exist this close to home.
– Kevin Wallis, Trip Leader
Kevin,
Thank you so much! We really did have a great adventure, I was pooped and I mean really pooped by the end. Bella was great what I wouldn’t do with that much energy! It is always so much fun to take ya’lls adventures, I always meet some really outrageous and fun people.
Jacquie Wenning