This past Friday Alden and I went on a hike to Morgan Falls. I wasn't sure how it would go with me being his only minder and him being a crazy water-nut. I figured it couldn't hurt to try, so we made the short drive.


The hike in went really well. He absolutely loved the falls, and it didn't take much time for him to jump in the water. At one point he tried to climb the rockface like some older kids who were there, but I convinced him to climb a downed tree instead.


We met a couple who had hiked in with a 3 1/2-year-old girl, an 18-month-old boy and a newborn girl (maybe less than two months old). They carried the newborn, and the other two walked most of the way. Morgan Falls is near a beautiful overlook called St. Peter's Dome. The woman asked me if they would be okay hiking up there with their kids. I suggested she wait until they were older since there are a couple of steep rock falls you need to clamber up to get there, and the dome itself is a cliff that falls about 75 feet or so. Not exactly a toddler safe place, and they didn't have anything other than their arms to carry the kids with.

On our walk back to the car, Alden and I unintentionally played tag with the family, with one of us getting ahead and then stopping to look at a butterfly or interesting leaf. The other group would then catch up, and we would trade off who led the way out of the woods. At the very end we said good-bye, and then I let Alden wander down to play near a bridge (the kid loves bridges!) and in a small stream. He scrambled under the bridge, and looked back at me with a grin of sheer joy.


I guess that means things went well, right? Hehe. Believe me, we'll be doing it again as often as possible before the snow flies.