Cascades

December 29 was a warmer than usual day so we decided to try some hiking with the kids. I have been wanting to try a hike to the Cascades but was nervous about how far it was. It is a 4 mile round trip hike up to a waterfall. There are two paths, lower and upper. The lower path is a little more difficult so I knew the upper path would be the one recommended for a first try with the kids. I had spoken to some fellow moms who had preschool age kids and they had done well so we gave it a shot. The parking lot was closed due to the government shut down but that did not deter us. Off we went. The lower path was actually washed out due to the amount of rain we have had so we stayed on the upper path. There were still some areas of water that we had to cross. The kids did really well and only started to ask how much further once we were close to the top. They really enjoyed the waterfall. We had a snack and then headed back down to a more dry place to eat our lunch. I had told Hannah on the way up that coming back down was going to be easier and she agreed. Both kids did great and walked the whole way. We had to stop for the facilities at the local shop and ended up getting some ice cream as well. Hunter napped on the way home of course. It was a great hike and I think we will be trying more in the future!

Starting out

Treat for doing such a good job

All tuckered out!