Fall Hikes

 Phelps Lake

I have never really been interested in doing Phelps Lake, because it's only a few miles and it seems pointless to drive all that way to only do a few miles.  But we were still trying to enjoy the trails and this one is flat so there's no snow so we decided to try it.  And it was beautiful!  I feel bad for looking down on it before.  Plus, if you go around the lake it is not all that short (I can't remember, maybe 7 miles?)  And there's a rock that you can jump off if you are there on a warmer day.  It was definitely not warm enough, nor did we have enough time.  I had to get back to coach a soccer game that night.

Dunanda Falls

This one has been on our list for a very long time.  We have avoided it because of the mosquitoes mostly.  We heard it is similar to Union Falls.  It's about the same distance, they are both pretty flat.  The trailheads are somewhat close to each other.  But of course, they are different waterfalls.  Both stunning.  Both have hotsprings!  Dunanda is superior for a few reasons, but the first is that the drive to go there was not as bad.  Union has this mile long crazy road that is only wide enough for one car and I don't know how anyone would reverse on it...  We avoided the mosquitoes by going later in the Fall when the temperatures were dropping low at night so the mosquitoes were gone.  It was a cold start though, lol.  I think Kariesa and Julie are both wearing my jackets that I had in my car. 

There was a lot of water.  Some were like little ponds.  Some were just marshy areas.  We are not scared to get our feet wet, thank goodness, because there are a few actual river crossings too.  But the marshy stuff definitely got us wet.

This was a little bonus waterfall on the way to Dunanda, just off to the side on another trail for a minute.  It's called Silver Scarf Falls.  It was cool but it was hard to get to a spot with a good view of it.

The trail took us to the top of Dunanda, and the view was cool.  But we knew there was a way to get down to it.  Going straight down didn't seem safe (we did later see the trail there and it is, in fact, how people get down, and we went back up that way) so we hiked back to a campground and made our way to the river and tried to hike in/along that.  It was further than we expected and definitely not the easiest way.  But we did eventually make it.  

There were a few different little pool areas that were warm.  The ones closer to the falls were not as pleasant because of the spray from the waterfall.  By this time we were plenty warm but not exactly hot.  While you are hiking and crossing rivers, the first ones you cross are cold, like all mountain rivers.  But as you get closer, they get warmer and warmer.

The only downfall is the distance.  The last 5 miles or so were hard because we were ready to be done.  My watch died.  I convinced the girls to run a little, only because walking for that long uses muscles differently and I knew I would end up sore in strange places and I had to play soccer the next day so I was a little worried.  Running through the forest felt amazing and the trail doesn't climb very much so it was really good running.