Cascade Falls

 

Today was stake conference so no church! Actually, they still have church, but its two hours in one seat with a 2, 4, and 6 year old.  Good luck, we took the week off.  This allowed us to be a little more aggressive with our Sunday hike.  Normally we stay close, but we drove an hour away past South Lake Tahoe toward Emerald Bay to do a 3 mile loop to Maggie’s Peak.  When we got there the way to Maggie’s Peak seemed to have too much snow so we changed last minute to hike to Cascade Falls which is where Cascade Creek flows to Cascade Lake (from there it then flows to Lake Tahoe).

I have been asking Liv lately if she is going hiking and she always says “Its too late?”

Over Christmas Dad gave us an old Platypus Water Pouch (like a Camelbak).  We decided to see if Soren wanted to pack in his own water and carry his gear.  He was so excited about it.  I was shocked he was really into it.  “I can’t believe I have my own Camelback to carry my own water!”

The trail is a 2.2 mile round trip with an elevation gain of about 500 feet.  The kids were all awesome hikers today.  I did not carry Svea for one minute.  She was a little tired by the end, but she did the whole thing.  Soren of course was an all star hiker.  Liv hiked when we let her, but due to big rocks along the trail and a steep edge, I carried her in the Kelty pack for most of the trip.

So on the trail Cascade Lake is in the foreground, Lake Tahoe in the background, and in Svea’s picture you can see the ski runs from Heavenly California on the Mountain to the right in the back.

 

As you can see the trail to the falls was rocky.  The picture to the right shows Maggie’s Peak in the background.  Svea is in a green coat in the middle of the picture, way ahead of everyone (that never happens).  You can barely see her behind the manzanita bushes where the trail becomes more steep.

Ashley carried her new backpack (thanks for the birthday gift papa) full of clothing layers, lunch, and first aid stuff.  This is past the above photographs, but before making it to Cascade Creek.

Made it to the creek and had our lunch

Liv was lounging.  Before this she laid her head right in the puddle below her.

Svea wanted a picture and said it was her “national forest pose.”

And the falls were steep!  I could not see away around them to get down to the lake.  That might be for another day in the summer when we could swim in the lake, but for today it was fine to just look at the lake and falls.

 

On the way home of course Liv fell asleep in the pack.  I took out my camera to get a picture of her asleep and she saw it, raised her head, said “cheese” and then fell back asleep.

Finally, we had a break on the way back with some cookies.  Soren and Svea sat on a rock together and shared cookies.  A hike can help bring the family together.

Good hike.  Kids (and adults) are all back in balance.  Actually quiet when we got home.  No running around screaming.  As Papa Ralph said – fill them up and knock them out!

I am amazed again at the number of hikes and places there are to explore here.  (Unfortunately) our County Manger accepted a job as the County Manager of Lane County Oregon (Eugene).  We saw him and his wife at the Park yesterday.  They have been here 5 years and she said “it would be hard to move on if we did not feel that we had done everything here.”  I don’t understand, We have been here two years and have just scratched the surface of what this place has to offer.  There are a zillion additional lakes, streams, and mountains to explore.  Next time we will need to bring our fly rods.