April has quickly led us into May without blogging any monthly updates on the ironman training. That will have to wait for another day, even though this week is my first 'official' week of my 24 week training plan for my first ironman..... As will the race recap of the Kentucky Derby half marathon that was last week have to wait.....
This post is about our recent family springbreak trip - exploring waterfalls in Tennessee and doing exactly what
Barefit Adventures promotes - "The world as your playground." I am always on the look out for some fun, family friendly places to hike, so thought I would share our trip to inspire more families to get out into the great outdoors.
Over fall break, we visited
Cumberland Falls area, so I was excited to have another opportunity to see even more waterfalls in a reasonable driving distance. Hiking is a favorite pasttime for our family of 5. Our kids (2-7 year olds) prefer hiking the rugged trails and get bored with paved paths, so I was looking forward to see what the trails had in store for us.
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| Burgess Falls |
Our first stop was
Burgess Falls State Park in Tennessee. This is about 4 hours from Louisville, KY, so an easy drive with kids. The hike was about 1.5 miles roundtrip seeing 4 waterfalls along the way. There is a playground and bathhouse at the trailhead along with some picnic tables. It was misty and windy the day we were there. The hike past the overlook down to the Burgess Falls was rugged, but my 7 and 5 year olds had no issues climbing down or up. At the bottom of the falls we were able to have our snack and climb on some rocks. A nice break from being in the car for 4 hours.
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| Fall Creek Falls |
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| Suspension bridge |
After a few hours playing here, we drove about 50 minutes to
Fall Creek Falls State Park where we would be staying for a few nights. It is home to the tallest free falling waterfall this side of the Mississippi - 256 feet - along with 4 other waterfalls. There were 2 suspension bridges that we crossed that the kids loved. We stayed for 3 days and 2 nights and had plenty of time to enjoy all the waterfalls. Our cabin along the lake had a paved trail nearby that you could bike/run/hike to the waterfalls. It worked out great. We had picnic lunches by the waterfalls and then had the naptime in the cabin for our 2 year old while the older ones played on the playground or went by the lake.
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| Our cabin: 2 bedroom, 1 bath |
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| Stairs to Greeter Falls |
After our stay here, we ventured on to Georgia to visit Legoland Discovery Center for the boys (couldn't stay out in nature the whole time, I suppose), but along the way we stopped at 2 more waterfalls: Greeter Falls and Foster Falls.
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| Greeter Falls |
Greeter Falls has two falls with one having a spiral staircase (one of the main reasons I wanted to check it out too) leading down to the falls. This hike was a bit rugged with less guard rails so we kept our kids close. The Broadtree Falls trail was the most rugged that we encountered and harder to follow - mainly climbing on rocks. My husband saw a copperhead snake along this hike that was still
sleeping. Fortunately, that was the only wildlife we encountered. I am
not a fan of snakes to say the least.
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| Broadtree Falls |
Foster Falls seems to be a swimming hole during the warmer months and a place for some rock climbing. It had a beautiful overlook, an easy hike to the waterfall,
and a nice way to finish our waterfall adventure vacation.
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| Foster Falls from the overlook |
Tennessee has lots more waterfalls I hope to explore such as the
Virgin Falls. The waterfalls comes out of one cave into another. It is about an 8 mile hike, so looking forward to it when the kids are a bit older and we can practice some backpacking too.
You don't have to travel far for vacations or spend lots of money to
make memories with your family. Hiking, climbing rocks, playing in the
water is fun for kids of all ages. Where are your favorite places to hike within a half a day's drive?
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