Bridal Veil Falls Hike

This weekend was the father and son's campout for our ward- which for me meant I had the weekend (well at least Friday and Saturday) with only Kai. What a nice Mother's Day weekend gift!

Last year when our "men" were on the campout, Andrea Ellis and I went on a hike at Wallace Falls with our little babies in our Bjorns. It was refreshing and beautiful and we had so much fun that we decided to do it again this year at a new location; Bridal Veil Falls (Index, WA). This year Chandra joined us with her little Victoria.

So, we headed out on our adventure at about 10am following some directions that I had printed from Google Maps. Unfortunately, the directions didn't lead us to the trail head, they led us to some random wilderness with some old cabins and the road ending in a cliff. We decided to ask a local cabin dweller for some directions (after making a very complicated and dangerous turn-around by the cliff). We picked the least creepy looking abode and knocked on the door. A few young boys answered and we instantly relaxed when we realized they weren't creepy cave people but normal kids on a vacation get-away with their mom. Anyways, the mom was very helpful in pointing us in the right direction to get to the Bridal Veil Falls trail head. When we finally arrived we realized that you had to have a parking permit to park there! UGH!! Well, we were able to get a permit after driving around a bit and asking a lot of people.

Finally, our hike began (after filling out a form with our names, etc. just in case we never returned from our adventure)! Although I consider myself in fairly good shape this hike was tough. I figure with the combination of pack, supplies and Kai; I was carrying a good 35 extra pounds on my back and although it was strenuous, it felt great and the hike was absolutely beautiful!

The beginning.

Andrea & Kaleb.

Chandra & Victoria.

Me & Kai.

The total hike up to the falls was about 2 miles and at one point near the end of the hike you reach a Y where one leg leads you to Lake Serene (which I hope to do someday) which is another 2 miles and the other leg leads you to Bridal Veil Falls which is only another 1/2 mile. So, at this point we are feeling pretty jazzed about seeing the falls and reaching our destination; and after about 1/4 mile we reach a river with logs to cross and on the other side- SNOW! We couldn't see any trail to speak of; just a lot of snow. So dejectedly we came to the conclusion that we were not going to be able to see what we had hiked all this way to see; the waterfall!

Bummer.

We resolved to come again when the snow was melted and sat down for lunch. The good news is that we did get to see some of the lower waterfall at our present location and we could hear the big falls up ahead so that set a nice mood for our lunch and lifted our spirits a bit.

Lunch.

After lunch, we hiked back and when reaching the bottom, I took off my pack and looking at my friends and their kids, I felt a deep sense of accomplishment and gratitude for such great friends, a healthy body and a beautiful earth; all things given to me by a loving Heavenly Father. I have a renewed vigor to get out and explore and enjoy the outdoors with my children. What a great day!

Downhill hiking is so much easier!

Us at the end- all smiles!

Them at the end- pooped out!