Woke up and decided to conquer the rock
pile behind Tall Wall. Kids could have stayed here all day. We hope to
come back to Alabama Hills for much longer. We all got pretty high on
the boulders. I hadn’t actually planned to climb high but Isaac was
frustrated with not being as capable as Jack. So I climbed with him and
we talked about how just because you are short doesn’t mean you have to
get frustrated or discouraged. After all I’m shorter than Daniel. We
just have to find a different way. And we did! We all got pretty high.
I'm counting three different walks for today's hike (bouldering at Alabama Hills, two short stops in Death Valley and walking the strip in Las Vegas). These make up our 32nd hike for 2021 (32/52). We walked a total of 3 miles. This brings us to 96 miles hiked this year.
This afternoon we made it to Death Valley. The kids got
their Jr Ranger badges abs then we stopped at the Badwater Basin to
check out the salt flat and be at the lowest part of the US — almost 300
feet below sea level!
Before leaving Death Valley, we had time to stop at Zabrieskie Point. We could have explored here a lot more, but we are running out of days and have a lot of miles ahead of us to get home.
Day 24: After a day of climbing, hiking,
site seeing and driving, we landed in Las Vegas. We set up camp at the
Oasis and then went into town for dinner at Sickies Garage — which was
delicious but took forever. Then we drove down the strip and tried to
see the Fountains at the Belaggio. We waited for 45 minutes before
giving up (they are supposed to run every 15 minutes). That was
disappointing but it was still neat to see the strip when it wasn’t
super crowded (we did have to avert little eyes a few times).
We continue to fall more and more in love with our little mountain and all of the outdoor activities that are within minutes of our home. Each excursion is its own adventure as we see everything fresh through our children's eyes.
Last weekend we took advantage of the gorgeous spring weather –winter mostly skipped over us this year– and made our way to the Rainbow Lake trail head. I was prepared with food for a picnic and the kids were prepared with an abundance of energy.
Jack and Daniel at top of bluff (neon green shirt).
They climbed up a chimney hidden in a crevice of the bluff that is in view.
Isaac and I at bottom of bluff (as viewed by Jack and Daniel).
We made our way down the trail, stopping to explore the bluffs at our leisure. Jack and Daniel climbed up a chimney in one of the bluffs, the same one they had done at Thanksgiving. Jack was proud of his accomplishment and some teenagers were clearly impressed.
On the other hand, Isaac was not happy to be left at the bottom. His time will come before we know it!
As soon as Jack and Daniel made their way back down to us, we pressed on toward Rainbow Lake where we stopped for a picnic.
Recent rains meant the dam at the lake was flowing freely with a cascade of water. We enjoyed the sunshine and our sandwiches before exploring the rocks at the water's edge.
While the weather was nice, the water was still cold. We told Jack that this was not the time to get feet wet, and thankfully he complied. Hiking back to the car while wet would not be a fun task. Isaac was determined to try to do whatever Jack does, so we were glad that neither of them tried to get in the water.
After exploring for a bit, we decided to walk across the cable bridge that crosses the creek. This is the junction where the trail splits, turning right to Signal Point or continuing across the bridge to Edward's Point. We didn't have enough water or time to complete that hike which made Jack sad.
Instead we agreed to follow a lower trail (orange blazes) that we had not noticed before. The sign for this trail said Cable Bridge 0.4 miles. We made (the right) assumption that this would cross back over the creek and circle back to the original trail.
We weren't completely sure where it would take us, but felt confidant we would connect back to the Rainbow Lake trail.
Worst case, we would turn around and back track. Thankfully it did connect and the loop extended our hike from what would have been 1.6 miles out-and-back to a 2.5 mile loop. We enjoyed discovering another cable bridge and a whole section of bluffs that we didn't realize were there.
Instead of circling Rainbow Lake, the trail meandered up a different ravine with another creek draining down into the creek that feeds Rainbow Lake.
While Isaac hiked most of the way down to the lake, after the first cable bridge, we put him in our Deuter Kid Carrier and I carried him the rest of the way. He fell asleep shortly after the second cable bridge crossing and napped as we made our way back to the car.
I love how the seasons change the scenery and how we interact with it. In November the creek was fairly dry due to last year's drought. We walked across rocks and creek crossings that were submerged on this particular hike. We also noticed many trees down from the recent storms in our area.
I love that our children are growing up with easy access to hiking and nature and learning to love the outdoors like we do. We always enjoy our hikes and sharing our love for the outdoors with our kids.
Shopping is one of those things that I do only out of necessity. Between Amazon delivering to our doorstep and Walmart Grocery Pick Up, I have been able to drastically reduce how often I visit an actual store.
The idea of Black Friday shopping makes me break into a cold sweat. I
know not everyone is like me, but I'm thankful that my family is
content to stay home, sleep in, and spend the afternoon together.
You know that our family loves to be outdoors, so if the weather
cooperates (and sometimes even if it doesn't), you can find us outside.
Holidays are no different.
So this past Black Friday, we opted to Opt Outside.
We made the plan to hike in the Rainbow Wilderness Area and if time
permitted, we would take the Cumberland Trail all of the way to Edwards
Point. This hike is right at 4 miles round trip, which we knew might be a
stretch for Jack. So we hit the trail with an open mind.
Our last visit to Rainbow Lake was in January of 2015. I was 7 months pregnant with Isaac and Jack was three. This visit was a bit different.
Jack started out literally running down the trail. I'm glad he knows
how to whistle because we made a game out of whistling back and forth
when he got out of sight.
While Jack ran back and forth, Isaac insisted on starting out walking
as well. This meant for a slower hike, but he wanted to do it himself,
so we let him.
Doing it on his own makes him stronger and reduces the amount of time I have to carry him. Win. Win.
We let him walk until we reached the bluffs and the start of the steepest section of the trail down to the lake. Jack found a crack in the bluffs and excitedly shouted that there was a hole and he could see sunlight above him.
Daniel went to check out the crack and the two of them managed to climb all of the way to the top. Jack was super excited to complete the rock climb. Isaac, meanwhile, tried his best to also climb in the crack.
Then he found a stick and was content to bang around in the dirt with it
while we waited for Daniel and Jack to find a trail back down from the
bluff.
We spent a decent amount of time at this bluff, so I wasn't sure if we would actually make it to Edwards Point, but we agreed to go down to the lake and the swinging bridge and assess how we all felt.
The lake was really low due to the recent drought. The spillway that normally flows freely with water was completely visible.
Jack enjoyed jumping around on the rocks in the gorge and exploring everything he could.
We found a large rock cairn that someone had built that was taller than Jack!
We crossed the swinging bridge before stopping for a snack. After our snack we explored the spillway and then asked Jack if he wanted to keep going on the trail or head home.
He said we should keep going (even after we explained that we would have to come back the whole way when we were done). He still said to keep going.
We crossed the bridge again and made our way up the next ridge. We made it to Lockhard Arch and pressed on to the top of the ridge, stopping for a water break once we could see Alexian Village and the Tennessee River below.
After our water break Jack wanted to keep going. We had a serious discussion about listening and obeying us because sections of the trail occasionally had steep drop offs to one side.
We also kept an eye on our watches (we didn't want to be stuck on the trail after dark) and stopped for a one last snack break since Jack was getting tired.
We figured we were close to Edwards Point, but were not exactly sure how far. Someone heading the opposite direction told us they thought it was about 10 minutes ahead of us.
Jack was acting pretty tired at this point and we discussed turning around. But right during our discussion another family with kids passed us and suddenly Jack had energy again. He was determined to make it all the way since the other kids were doing it. So we did.
Ten minutes later, we were rewarded with an amazing view of the
Tennessee River Gorge with the city of Chattanooga in the distance. Jack
collapsed and we fed him more snacks. He really was a trooper though!
Isaac slept for a portion of the hike up to Edwards Point. Thankfully he wasn't too tired and our Deuter Kid Comfort Carrier II made the hike fairly easy.
After snapping some pictures we got back on the trail. We encouraged Jack that this would be his longest hike to date and that he was beating his own record.
Making a record was good motivation for our little trooper. The other family was behind us on the way back and that was also motivation to keep Jack going.
We are so proud of him for finishing the whole hike. We made it back to the car about 30 minutes before sunset and headed straight to Dominos to grab a pizza.
At home Jack declared that it was the best pizza he had ever had. A good hike makes any food taste amazing!
Trail Stats Trail: Cumberland Trail from Rainbow Lake parking lot to Edwards Point Miles Completed: 4 / Isaac hiked about 0.5 miles (a record for him) Time on the trail: 4 hours Completed Rock Climbed (Jack and Daniel): 1
