Epic Hanging Rock Hike

While the big kids were away at MTYC, Rebecca and I took the littles on a hike in Hanging Rock State Park. 

There's a trail that going past two waterfalls, Hidden Falls and Window Falls. The trial keeps going after that, and since the hike to the falls was fairly short, we decided to keep going to see where it led. Little did we know...

 Of course the falls were gorgeous. 

  

  

There were lots of creeks to cross, so Rebecca and I would pop our shoes and socks off, load a little on our backs and carry them across. 

  

Along the way, we found several spots where there were dozens of little blue butterflies all gathered together. Not sure if they were getting water or just resting, but they were pretty.

 Eventually we reached the end of the trail: The Dan River. Unfortunately, there was only one way back... the way we came. 

 So off we went. 

  The girls kept up good spirits throughout the hike, not complaining at all.

 Fortunately, there were some places to rest.

 Eventually, we crossed all the creeks again and got close to the end. I ran on ahead to get the car started and be ready to load the kiddos while they rested a few more times before climbing the long set of steps back up.

 Our strong girls! Still happy, even at the end.

 My phone died just before I made it back, but it was a total of 9 miles that those girls hiked! 

 No wonder they were so exhausted on the ride home...

But they certainly woke up quickly enough when we stopped to get froyo! 

Hanging Rock

Once we dropped the bigs off at MTYC, we started home, but rather than go back the normal way, we went around to Hanging Rock and took a hike there as well.

Emma had been given a thing of bubbles by one of the counselors at MTYC and so she brought it along.

The path, for more than half the way is either paved or nicely groomed gravel, making it seem easier than it was. It wasn't terribly difficult until you reached the seemingly endless stairs. Poor Rebecca had to carry Irene on her back up them and Irene was not helpful in the least...

Emma and I reached the top on the wood stairs first, so she sat on a rock in the shade and blew bubbles while we waited.

There were still more stairs, this time rough-cut stone, that had to be climbed to reach the top, but the littles persevered and made it!

The view was incredible, but the girls didn't want to get any closer to it than they were. OK...I didn't want them any closer than they were. Sadly, there was an exposure problem with the camera, so my panoramic shots didn't come out.

The climb down all those stone and then wood stairs was certainly no easier than the uphill. By the time we got all the way down, we were all pretty beat. 

Pilot Mountain and Hanging Rock

We decided, since Olivia is studying mountains right now, to take a trip to Pilot Mountain and hike around it. It was rather chilly, but we soon warmed ourselves up with some good hiking. 

The trail isn't that long, but there are lots of steps

 

Olivia found lots of places to hide

Gabe was mighty proud that he made it the whole way by himself

Even Ezra wanted to walk as much as he could.

 

Since we're gluttons for punishment and the trail at Pilot Mtn was only a mile, we drove over to Hanging Rock and added nearly another mile to our day. The kids weren't nearly as energetic this time, but they did a fine job of soldiering on.

The boys plodding along. We had to do quite a bit of waiting for them, but they made it. :)

Ezra found himself a walking stick for part of the walk back