The next day I wanted to get out and move a bit. The last time we were here we hiked up to Cathedral Falls and I thought it would be nice to do that again. Michael and Robin were up for anything so they tagged along again. Thankfully the drive to the trail head is all on a one lane gravel road so I wasn't so worried about seatbelts since we were traveling about 8 mph.
Right at the beginning of the trail there is this great overlook. It's so beautiful!
Last year when we hiked this it was over 100 degrees out so this water felt amazingly refreshing. This time around it wasn't nearly that hot.
Ella, Michael and Michael!
It was even a bit chilly at times as you can see with Zeke wearing his pullover.
Here's Cathedral Falls. You can't even see it. It was just a trickle. You can barely see Michael standing on the rock outcropping. That's where the falls hits. You can see that the rocks below are wet because it was like I said trickling down, but it wasn't enough to be able to really see it at all unless you were in just the right location with the light.
Walking behind the where the falls is.
Resting on their thrones.
Last year this is where we stopped, but we decided to see where else the trail took us.
We saw some more little water falls.
And we could see and hear some bigger ones down below.
We really were wanting to get down to the main river so we were keeping a lookout for a way down.
Michael hiked down a bit to an area and saw that we could make it down.
We ended up being able to get into the middle of the river and take a rest. I absolutely love this picture of everyone. Cousin Michael was the only one that didn't actually come over to the rock island, but he's still in the picture. It's just a cool shot!
Behind where that picture was taken was this awesome fallen tree. I told Owen he should climb it.
He was up there a ways!
After climbing back up to the trail it was time to head back. I hadn't realized how far we'd come, but it end up being about 5.3 miles. It was a nice hike.
By the time we got back we were hungry so we ate lunch. Around 4pm Michael wanted to head back over to the same creek we found last summer. Cousin Michael, Robin and Owen decided to hang back at the campsite.
Michael packed along his Seahawks chair so I would have a nice place to sit and read in the river. The rock island I sat on last time had become a little overgrown by this bush that's on the left side of this picture.
The water was much lower than it was last year. I think because last year it was so hot the snow melt was more. Last year Michael's legs were completely under water when he sat in that same location.
The kids were jumping from rock to rock all down the river.
I love letting them explore and have fun in nature.
Michael was trying to convince each of the kids to get all the way wet. That water was cold!!!
I was fine just sitting there reading my book.
This cute girl was trying to get her body use to the cold!
Zeke finally did it...he dunked his head!
Michael found an even nicer location to sit on than his throne. Right behind him is little waterfall that spills over onto his back. He said it felt like a massage from jets...it was all bubbly.
Mother nature all to ourselves!
After a while Michael and Zeke decided to go all the way to the end of the river where it spills out into the reservoir. We knew it wasn't that far down. When they came back up it was time to pack up and head back to camp to make dinner.
That night was more of the same...playing games, sitting around the fire and enjoying time with family.
The next day the weather wasn't very nice it was definitely on the cooler side. I did want to go on a nice walk around the campground though. So Zeke, Michael and I set out to circumnavigate the grounds.
We came over to fishing bridge to check it out.
Here is the map that shows how the river flows into the different reservoirs. This is all part of the Tacoma Power Parks. Taidnapam is on the far right end of Riffe Lake and Mossy Rock is over the far left side of the lake.
That last night it actually started to rain so we turned in earlier than usual. In the night I got woken up by something, but I couldn't tell what it was I just knew something was wrong. I was looking around in the trailer, but couldn't see anything. The whole time we'd been camping at Taidnapam I had left the window by my head a little bit unzipped. I was trying to look outside to see if I could see anything and then I heard a whisper....mama.....mama. It was Jackson and he freaked me out. They didn't tie the rainfly correctly and he woke up with his sleeping bag all wet. In the middle of the night Michael had to get up and lay the dining table down into a bed so Jack could sleep inside. Lesson learned...tie the rainfly down correctly next time. ;)
Of course the next morning it was still damp out so we had to pack everything up and it was all wet. Per my MO I didn't take any pictures on the last day of camp. When we got home we had to unpack and then reset up everything so it could properly dry. Our front yard looked hilarious!
It was so much fun camping with Michael & Robin that we are going with them again later in September.
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