Hiking with Kids: Glen Falls

So last week, after my sister had worked her scheduled night shifts and power had been restored to their home in Tallahassee, she came to pick up her kids. We had a nice, quick visit and decided to take the kids on one last outing before they headed home.

Glen Falls has been on my radar for awhile, but we hadn't had the chance to go explore it yet.

Since the trail  is located across town at the base of Lookout Mountain, Angela and I thought that it would a perfect detour for a picnic as they made their way back to Florida.

Glen Falls is a quick hike – about one mile each way to the actual waterfall. The trail meanders through the woods before reaching the bluffs that house the waterfall.

You can follow the trail past Glen Falls and take a short set of stone stairs that go through a tunnel in the rock called Fat Man Squeeze. Once through the tunnel, the trail continues up to the creek that feeds the waterfall.

When we reached the waterfall, we discovered a trail crew eating lunch. It looked like they had just completed work on a new bridge. We decided to press on with the kids walk through Fat Man Squeeze before stopping to eat.

This meant we were on a small bluff, so we made sure the kids stayed in the tunnel area – no playing when there are big drop offs. I pretty sure the kids were happy to take a break in the shade of the rocks.

After we ate, we headed back down to the waterfall – we didn't want to continue on the trail since there were more kids than adults and the trail was right on the edge of bluffs.

We haven't had much rain this summer so the waterfall itself was just a trickle, and the pool at the bottom almost empty. But the kids didn't care.

All that mattered to them was that there was a bit of clear water to splash around in. They immediately waded into the water and eventually had to strip down because to them, swimming is swimming, the size of the watering hole doesn't matter!

With the promise of ice cream at Mr. T's, we convinced the kids that it was time to go. With kids, I find that having a goal is important – on the way there, the goal was the waterfall, on the way home, the goal was ice cream. It was a worthy (and tasty) goal.

I don't always think to go on hikes when Daniel isn't with me. I'm glad we went ahead and did this hike. We will have to go back after it rains to enjoy an actual waterfall.

If you are new to hiking with kids, this is a good trail to get your feet wet.