One Sunday afternoon we were sitting at the house with no plans for the rest of the day when I suggested we go hiking. Recently several of my friends from work had driven to this place in Mississippi called Clark's Creek and had a fun time hiking and looking at waterfalls. Yes, you read that correctly...waterfalls! Now granted they weren't anything like you would find in the Smoky Mountains but they were decent size for this area! It didn't take long to convince Eli and eventually Josh, so we loaded the car up with our hiking gear and headed to Clark's Creek. It was a good little drive for us from our house, but it was perfect for a day trip.
We parked the car, paid the $3 fee in the Honor Box, and set out on our hike. We were ready to see some waterfalls! It always amazes me when we go to Mississippi how hilly and beautiful it is and Louisiana is just so flat. The woods inside the park were beautiful!
The trails had a lot of steep inclines and I was a little worried about having Eli with us-I was scared he might get tired-but his little legs were troopers. It was a great learning opportunity for him on how to judge where to step and about taking his time. Before too long, we found the creek that would lead us to our first waterfall.
The primitive trail that had you follow the creek bed was going to take about 4 hours if you did the entire thing. It also mentioned that it was for more experienced hikers. If it had just been Josh and me I would have done that, but since we had Eli with us we stuck to the regular trail and just followed the sound of water. I told Josh I want the two of us to go back soon so we can explore the primitive trail. I think it'd be fun to follow the creek bed through the park.
We found the first waterfall and I took a picture of Josh and Eli at the top of it. Then we walked down the stairs near the falls, took our shoes off, and played in the water for a little bit. I could have stayed there the entire time. It was so beautiful and peaceful!
Our feet were already wet so we decided to follow the creek for a little bit and see where it led us.
It led us to the second waterfall with quite a large drop-off. We took a picture at the top of it and then climbed the stairs nearby and got back on the trail.
That green speck down there is someone on the primitive trail climbing over the boulders.
Definitely not something I want my 5 year old doing!
According to the map of the park there were several trees in the park that were over 100 years old. They weren't exactly marked but I'm pretty sure I found at least two of them. Their trunks were huge and they were so tall. It renewed my desire to go see the trees in the Redwood Forest one day!
We could have stayed longer, but my littlest hiker was getting tired by this point. We'd probably spent close to 3 hours exploring and we still had a long drive home. We found a comfy swing with a gorgeous view to rest for a little bit before hiking the rest of the way back to the truck. We had lots of fun and will definitely come back again!
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