Stewart Falls Family Hike

It has been nice weather lately and the kids are all walking strong now so we thought we would be brave and go on a family hike to Stewart Falls.

The boys carried their own lunch and water in their backpacks. I thought they would complain but instead they loved it! They happily carried them for the whole hike.

The trail was really crowded. Apparently everyone else had the same idea we did about taking advantage of the beautiful day off work. So we had to step aside and let others pass frequently since we have short little legs with us.

The boys did really well during most of the hike. They were carried for a little bit just to speed things up a bit but they didn't complain about walking at all.

After over two hours we made it to the falls! Several people that passed us on their way to the falls passed us again on their way back before we made it. But we finally did!

We pulled out our lunch and dug in.

Then walked around and took some pictures. Bennett is wearing the sunglasses and hat.

Of course Cooper found a stick to play with. :)

As warm as it was in the sun, in the shade of the falls we were pretty cold.

After realizing how long it took us to get to the falls, we decided that Jason would take Tessa and book it back as fast as he could while the boys and I would take a short cut to a road by the cabins up at Sundance. Then Jason would come pick us up along that road.

Cooper found a walking stick "just like the other peoples!"

Bennett had to go potty on our way back but there wasn't any bathrooms nearby. So I told him he would have to either hold it or pee in the bushes. "Mom, only animals pee in bushes." I explained that Daddy would have gone in the bushes if there wasn't a bathroom but he was not convinced. He decided to hold it. Miraculously, we ran into Uncle Boyd (Grandma Halladay's twin sister's husband) and were able to walk back to their cabin to use their restroom. Bennett then said "See? Bathroom nearby." Ok, you got lucky, buddy. Jason met up with us while Uncle Boyd drove us down the mountain. Overall, the boys hiked about 2 miles. Not too bad for their first hike at age three. 

I would love to hike with them again! But maybe a shorter, less popular hike...