An Afternoon Hike

After Michael worked half a day, we took a short drive up Cedar Mountain to take a couple of short hikes, stretch our legs, and enjoy being outdoors in the mild fall weather. It was a little windy today... we even needed our jackets occasionally, but overall, it was a very nice day to be out.
We hiked the Bristlecone Pine trail which is a short loop of 0.6 miles but ends in an awesome overlook where you can see clear into Zion National Park. The bristlecone pines are really cool trees. They are thought to be some of the oldest known living organisms on the planet... some dating between 4000 and 5000 years old. The picture of Logan, Michael and Ty is in front of a particularly large and gnarled example. It
would have been an awesome tree to build a tree house in. After that, we drove on up the mountain to Navajo lake and to the Cascade Falls trailhead. It is 1.6 mile trail to a small waterfall that comes out of an old lava tube... the water coming through the tube drains from Navajo lake. About half way through the hike there is a sign that says the trail is closed, but I had been reading on a couple of web sites that people have still been hiking it.







The trail was washed out and eroded badly last year, but it didn't seem to be stopping anyone, even with little kids. So... we went on. The trail is a steep drop off on one side and goes steeply uphill on the other side... and it was a little tricky in places... very badly washed out and covered with rock slides. But, Michael carried Ty and we made it into the pristine little cascade. Ty wasn't happy about being carried at first... he was liking walking too much, but once Michael put him on his shoulders, he accepted his fate. The water coming down the fall was so so clear. I'm not sure I would do it again, but I'm glad we went all the way in. Ty and Logan both seemed to enjoy themselves and it was really good to get out and enjoy the great outdoors a little. It's such a short drive, we vowed to get up there more often and enjoy ourselves before the snow flies. There are a couple of other short hikes that would be fun to try.