A Spring Sunday

This last Sunday we played hookie from church and embarked on our first hike of the year.
Palouse Falls is located about an hour and a half from our house, which proved to be a fairly easy day trip to tackle with a toddler. Arriving at the falls by 10am, we were a bit disappointed that the windy weather from Clarkston had indeed followed us to the falls, but we quickly discovered that if we kept moving we stayed plenty warm.

The park itself has a great view of the falls, but its the various trails around and behind the falls that really give you the full experience. We let Kendry hike a bit on his own until he began to tire and it became a bit too treacherous for him to be, for lack of a better term, loose.

Kendry's key phrase for the day month: "No, I want to do it myself."

Talk about a bittersweet stage. Part of me was so proud of him for climbing up some pretty rocky parts of the trail all by himself, but another part of me wanted him to hold out his hand and ask for my help. 

Please humor me for a little while as I pretend this isn't just the beginning of the eternal mommy dilemma I will battle emotionally for the rest of my son's life, okay? I am saving that reality check for the day he no longer needs me to tie his shoes.

After stopping for a quick snack along the trail we put Kendry into the Kelty and set off to find a trail that would lead us down to the water above the falls.

Oops, dead end.

Nope, we're not making it down this way either.

Finally we wandered back to the railroad tracks and found a much easier path that descended to the upper part of the falls.

Had we let him, Kendry would have spent hours throwing rocks into the water.

And while he threw rocks I inspected this strange paw print in the mud.

I'm convinced it was left by a cougar, so naturally I was scanning the terrain suspiciously the rest of our hike, on guard for any cougars that might be stalking my child. (Before you laugh, you should know that a cougar was actually shot and killed in a Central Washington neighborhood earlier this month.) 

Between the water, steep ledges, sharp rocks and cougar paw prints, my momma bear instincts were running on overdrive  - enough that I'm pretty sure I came home with a few gray hairs.

Oh no wait.

Only two of those gray hairs were from Kendry and the steep ledges.

The third was from my husband getting close enough to the top of the falls to snap this photo.

Justin assured me that had he fallen in would have shouted "As you wiiiisshh!" on his way down.

You gotta love a guy who quotes Princess Bride, no?

But speaking of going down the falls...

Would you believe that a young man actually kayaked over the falls a few years ago?

I know all you moms were ready to smack that boy upside his head as he left that voicemail for his mother.

Our hike ended with a nice picnic lunch back at the park. Then, after an appropriately timed dirty diaper, we loaded everything up and were on our way back home.

Have I told you how blessed I am to have a husband who loves the outdoors like I do?

Priceless.

 

Last but not least, I was smitten with this awesome rock formation at the top of the falls.

Don't we have an amazingly artistic Creator?