Red Cliffs Recreation Area

Warning: Long Post
We have lived here 18 1/2 years, and I just found out about Red Cliffs Recreation Area. Chris had been to it once, but it was in the middle of summer and the river was dry. The ladies at work told me about it. I was a little concerned that mom would be able to do it with her knees, but I was assured that it was an easy 1/2 mile hike. It was the perfect day to hike. It was cool and a little overcast so that we didn't get too hot. I don't think that Logan and Victoria had been hiking before so they were really excited.

The kids found a lot of places to hide. They thought this cave was sooo cool! Red Cliffs Recreation Area is only about 15 minutes out of town and has two waterfalls in the Spring. An upper and a lower one. This is the lower one. I was told that the rock is real slippery and makes a natural slide. Unfortunately, the water right now is f f f rreeezing! It is all snow run off.
Nathan wanted to see how close he could get and Victoria was right behind him.
Chris and the kids played around a little bit here, jumping rocks and getting their shoes wet. This archway was on the way to the upper falls. On the way back there was a family having a picnic lunch in there. It is huge.
We almost got all the way to the upper falls, but the water cut us off. We didn't want to wade in it yet. Chris and the boys took the camera to take pictures. As you can see on the right there are holes cut into the rock with a rope hanging down. You have to go across there to get to the top of the falls. Chris said it isn't as hard as it looks. The rope is there to hold on to as you go over.
This is the view from the top of the upper falls. This one is perfect for jumping and diving off of. The pool at the bottom is very deep.
Nathan went way ahead of us on the way back. When we came up the trail there he was waiting patiently for us by the stream.

CJ waiting for Logan to come down off of the rock.



Victoria in her first hiker pose.









Logan sliding down some rock he had climbed up on.


Just about the time we got to the car at the end of the hike it started to sprinkle. The timing was perfect. We had been in the house no more than 10 minutes and it started pouring. The wind was gusting really hard with good size hail pounding the ground. We felt very grateful not to be in it. It kept coming down for a good 20 minutes.