Friday, March 30, 2012

Petit Jean State Park - Cedar Creek


On our third full day, we hiked the Cedar Creek trail, just one and one-quarter miles long.  This time, we were actually smart and remembered to wear swimsuits, as the weather has been plenty warm and sunny, mid-80s already at the end of March!  Well...everyone except Steve!  This trail was probably the kids' favorite, for sure!  The trail runs along the creek, and there are opportunities for getting wet!  Just before the big wooden bridge, there was an ideal place to let the littles explore safely while letting the big girls go exploring in the water.  The rocks were super slippery, so you had to be careful, but they had so much fun!  The water was pretty cold, but you got used to it.  It was all pretty shallow, and super rocky, but also so picturesque!  Steve was a bit bummed that he didn't have his swimsuit on because such exploring is right up his alley. He was a good sport about it though and hung with Genna & Jake.  We had the whole place to ourselves, minus just a few minutes when a group from Shreveport came through with a Yorkie that Jake just had to kiss!  Man, that boy looooves dogs!

There was a flat rock that these two best buddies spent most of their time playing on.
Both pups aren't shy about open mouth kisses
Genna had clearly used up all of her energy on yesterday's hike, so we took it easy the rest of the day.  We finished the day with a Ranger program about the Unsolved Mysteries of Petit Jean Mountain, mostly how the mountain got its name.   By the way, "Petit" is pronounced "Petty" here.   It is the French pronounciation.


Mom got to have fun with the big kids while dad watched the littles...his fault since he forgot to wear a swimsuit.



Alyssa 'sitting' on the water
They wanted to slide down the rock behind them, but it wasn't slippery enough!
Alyssa swimming in the 'freezing' water
150 year old Pioneer cabin at the trail head. 
Pioneer cabin sign

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