Planned on Hiking, Ended up Trail Jogging

The day was a Monday, Daddy's day off. We decided that it would be nice to get out and enjoy a little nature. We're so blessed here in the northwest with beautiful trails and rivers and streams. The destination was Punchbowl Falls. The trail was Eagle Creek.

The hike in was rather uneventful.



Brandon carried Tamsen on his back.



Dallin stayed way ahead of the pack and had to keep waiting for the rest of us to catch up. He is quite the hiker.



Jerrin and Kyleen hiked together most of the way and kept running on the trails, they about gave me a heart attack a few times.



Jerrin loves to be outside.



Bre is really nervous when it comes to heights and so she and I buddied up and took our time on the trails.

Once we made it to the falls, it took about an hour, the falls were so beautiful, and the water felt so good! It was a nice hot day so the water didn't feel as icy cold as it normally does. It was actually quite refreshing. The kids and Brandon went swimming for about an hour, and even Sam got into the creek, although she didn't like it so much. She was much happier once she got out of the water. I soaked my feet and took pictures, though with the slippery rocks most of the pictures are a bit blurry.



Tamsen loved the water, but it made her need to potty, which was bad because she refuses to potty in nature. So she danced the whole time because she wouldn't go potty until we were back down the trail at the parking lot with the flushy toilets. It's frustrating, but she's my kind of girl!



Jerrin was hunting for salamanders.



It's a perfect spot to enjoy the water without worrying about drowning or being swept away.



The boys had fun with this cliff overhang.



Sam didn't mind the water as long as she could touch the bottom. She didn't like the deeper water, but I think that overall the water was too cold for her comfort!

The hike back was a little more interesting. The boys were ahead of us again, and I took a picture of them to show how high we were and what a beautiful area it is there.



Close up.



Same setting zoomed out.

Along the way there are a couple of very narrow areas that are rocky and have a very steep drop off and so they provide cables that you can hold on to.



This is Breanne in one of those sections. Because of her fear of heights, Breanne and I took these sections especially slow. Kyleen, on the other hand, had no fear and was trying to run the whole way and so I insisted that she hold my hand, much to her chagrin.



Look at how narrow that path is and how steep the drop off, and Kyleen wanted to run! It makes me sick just thinking about it!

Shortly after finishing these narrow paths we heard a very loud CRACK directly above our heads. Brandon, who was further down the path, yelled RUN! We RAN! As we ran, a rock slide fell from the cliff above us and landed right where we had been standing just seconds before and then continued down the side of the mountain! Brandon was able to see a couple of huge boulders and a log along with several smaller boulders as they fell from the top of the mountain. We couldn't believe it! The sound was unreal. After we got to safety we turned to see what was going on and all that we could see was a huge cloud of red dirt and leaves that was slowly drifting down from the sky. We all stood there huddled together, shaking from head to toe, for a few seconds and talked about how grateful we were that Heavenly Father had heard our prayers that morning and had protected us from danger and had given us the safety that we had prayed for that morning. What an adventure! Now we are looking forward to another family hike with all of the fun, all of the bonding, all of the safety, all of the beauty...and maybe a little less of the adventure!