Hiking at the Cascades

Earlier this week, my camera broke. So i have no pictures to share of our week and weekend.

The week was pretty uneventful, trying to get back into the summer routine of having two kids at home. We've been hula hooping, planting seeds, making giant bubbles and just spending lots of time outside. Our Brown Thrasher babies left the nest, and i was pretty bummed not to get any pictures of them leaving the nest.

This weekend we went hiking at the Cascades, in Pembroke Virgina. We come every spring, to cleanse and purge ourselves from the heavyness of the winter. We come to let the energy of the waters wash away any lingering negativity, and mental stagnation.

We came later than usual this year, and i was a bit disappointed by the lack of wildflowers and amount of people here. Although we saw few people on the actual trail, the falls were uncomfortably crowded. The hike to the main waterfall is incredibly beautiful, and i usually stop about every three minutes to take a picture. This time there were very few wildflowers blooming, just lots of stinging nettles all along the trail.

Without my camera, i couldn't take any pictures of our hike. Since we come every year though, i thought i'd share a few photos from past years. It was fun looking through them, i seem to always take the same pictures every year. It's interesting to see how nature changes and progresses, huge logs break down and decompose over time, rocks erode away. Plants change according to the weather conditions.

These were taken in 2008 or 2009.

We always take the lower trail to the falls which is a bit more strenuous then the upper falls, but also much more beautiful and magical. The path is mainly stone, and there are are huge boulders, lots of stone steps and it twists and winds all along the edge of the river.

The falls here are almost 70 foot. This photo was from last year. When were there this past weekend, there must have been at least 50 people here. It was the most i have ever seen there. Many folks were wading and swimming. The water is always cold, but you can swim in the pool in front of the falls.

This photo is from 2008. On the right is Kenan and Sequoia walking up to the falls.

This year Kenan took both kids up to the falls, and let them play in the shallow water near it. i stayed on the bank pretending to take pictures. :) The rocks to get to the falls are extremely slippery, and i wasn't in the mood to fall. Both kids were soaking wet by the time they made it back to where i was sitting. On the hike back we took the upper falls, which is a much easier hike and always seems to go a lot quicker. This is one of my favorite parts of the summer, just getting out and hiking with the family.

You can see my Cascades Album from 2008 here. It's funny, Kenan just shaved his head last week, and in these photos from 3 years ago...he had also just shaved his head. These photos were taken almost exactly 3 years ago ( we went for our anniversary) and it was the last time he had shaved it. Our photos would have looked almost the same, except that the kids are a a bit older. :)