Swimming Hole Hike!

I woke up this morning and knew that I wanted to get outside. It rained a ton the last few days, so that negates mountain biking. 90 degrees or more, and high humidity sounds like a miserable experience on the road bike. What to do? How about a hike with Arwen. Better yet, how about a hike to a swimming hole! Ah, yes, that sounds about right. Loaded the dog up, the pack and took off. Today's goal; Lower Falls. 2.5 mile hike out, chill in the plunge pool, 2.5 mile hike out...sounds great! If the rain continues this summer like it has this spring, there should be plenty of trout in the wild streams out at Stone Mountain. The water was as high as I have ever seen it in some of those creeks, and it was clear too.




On the way out to the falls, Arwen and I saw one lone doe near the Hutchinson Homestead. Arwen wasn't too terribly interested. We continued on, stopping to play around in each of the creeks we crossed. Once we got to lower falls, it was tricky trying to find a place that both of us could wade across stream to gain access to the pool. The trailside basically is a rocky cliff, with no easy way down, especially for a dog. The opposite side affords the only wade in spot. I took off the pack and boots, threw on the sandals, let Arwen off the leash and started bushwhacking. We finally made it to a wadeable section of the stream about a quarter mile below the falls and crossed over. The water was still surprisingly cold. We played a little fetch in the pool until Arwen decided to maul the stick, game over.


On the way back out, we saw another deer in nearly the same spot as the way in. This time, Arwen was all business, I think she was hungry by this point. She got low in the grass, with just her head poking above and was trying to get closer. This time, the deer realized what the heck was going on, and took off.

"THE HUNTER AND THE HUNTED"

Back to the car after the excitement. Half a peanut butter and honey sandwich for me, half for Arwen (I forgot her cookies). Much fun!


Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:40:27 20:08 pace
Distance (mi ) 4.99
Moving Speed (mph) 3.0 avg. 9.2 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +1,178 / -1,082