DeSoto State Park

Daniel and I have been itching to go hiking, but the south is WAY TOO HOT in the summer to hit the trails {especially if one of you is pregnant}.

 

Yesterday we had a cold front move through that cooled things off tremendously. It was in the 70s this morning and we decided that if we wanted to hike in July, we better find a place to go.

We wanted to stay within an hour's drive of our house, but this seriously limited our hiking options. 

 

We decided on a waterfall hike in DeSoto State Park. Namely because it was featured in Backpacker Magazine and had received a rating of 4/5 for scenery on HikingChattanooga.com.

I think we are spoiled because the best we would have rated this trail was 2/5. 

 

To be fair it would be the perfect place to go mountain biking – lots of old growth trees and well groomed trails without a lot of technical parts {Daniel won't let me consider mountain biking right now... I can't wait for spring to get here}. For hiking, this trail was a disappointment.

Since it was overcast and very few people were on the trail, we let Sophie run off leash for a while but ended up revoking her off-leash privileges when she ran away and wouldn't come back. Daniel had to chase her down and found her laying in a creek next to a family that was hiking the trail.

We completed a 3.5 mile loop that included a stop at Lost Falls and Laurel Falls. Due to low water levels, they weren't much to look at. 

I am really missing the open balds of North Carolina and Virginia and would be in heaven if we could do a big mountain hike out west... that is just not in the cards for us right now.

While the weather was cool, the humidity turned out to be wretched. I was glad to get off the trail, but thankful that at 23 weeks pregnant I can still get out and hike.