If a tree falls in the forest...

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"  If I was the philosophical type, that may have been what I asked myself right after Papa Z announced we were going to go hiking in Forest Falls.  But alas I am not and I think my immediate thought was, "What?!  It's 10ish we will need food!  We will need to eat!  Will there be food?!  I need food in my belly if we are going on mountain roads!  You know how I get car sick on mountain roads!  Hmmm....What do I feel like puking up in the car today?"-or something to that effect.  I am happy to announce the mountain roads were not as curvy as I had  imagined and I got through the trip with minimal dizziness. 

Prior to this trip, I had never heard of Forest Falls.  Papa Z was drawn to it because he wanted to take the family on a hike and the web page for Forest Falls proclaimed  that "Many refer to Forest Falls as "little Yosemite".  Really?  That's a big proclamation!  We shall see!

So we packed some snacks, food, and drinks and began our journey.  But not without a stop to KFC for some finger lickin' goodness. 

Forest Falls has a beautiful area with day camping sites.  We enjoyed our pre-hike meal under enormous trees while listening to rushing water. 

Feeling energized from our energy packed meal of KFC, Cheetos, and watermelon, we began our hike.  I assumed since we were taking three young children-two of whom were hoofing it and one which was tethered to Papa Z's chest-it was going to be an easy hike.  It wasn't too bad at the beginning, it was a dirt/sand path.  Then the path became sprinkled with boulders you had to climb over or go around.  This wasn't even too bad as long as you kept the thought of rattlesnakes out of your mind.  I didn't become concerned until I saw the log we had to cross to get over to the other side. For those of you that don't know, I am probably considered an anxious mom.  I'll admit it, I can look at a situation and immediately gauge all the things that could possibly go wrong.  So you can imagine the scenarios going through my mind as I watched this little scene: 

Wacky Zacky being pulled across while Silly Jilly dangled helplessly from Papa Z's chest. It did get my adrenaline flowing and raised my anxiety level.  I will admit I did have the camera ready to capture any missteps causing one or all three of them to take a swim in the creek. 

Then we came upon a beautiful area with a small waterfall.  This was just a bonus one because the "Little Yosemite" fall was further up the hill!

After a very terrifying hike (for me) we made it to the look out point for the bigger falls.  The hike consisted of me attempting to keep Zany Janie from falling off the cliff just inches off the path.  I don't know why she turns into Mr. Peepers at the most inopportune times!  While the falls were not exactly like Yosemite, it was beautiful and worth the hike.

The kids were not impressed with the waterfalls, but couldn't keep their hands out of the water and would have spent the whole day there playing.

Overall, I would recommend this hike to anyone who plans to be in the near vicinity of Forest Falls. 

Zany thought of the day:  So back to the original question-If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Hmmm....That's a tough one, oh wait!  What's that shiny thing?