Natchez Trace Waterfalls

Brian had to work on Sunday so I decided to take the boys hiking.  It rained and rained and rained Saturday and Saturday night.  Lots of areas around here were extremely flooded after getting several inches of rain.  So I decided waterfall hikes were the way to go.  I didn't want to do anything too long with the boys since I wanted them to walk instead of being carried (plus I can't carry both of them at the same time anymore).  And I knew it would be super muddy so trails with paved sections would be a bonus.

So I decided going to a couple of waterfalls off the Natchez Trace Parkway that we visited right after moving here would be ideal.  Even though it was raining the first time we visited the waterfalls, there was barely any water compared to this time.

The first hike we did was to Jackson Falls.  It's a short 0.2 mile hike down a paved path.

At the top of the trail, both boys were so excited that they could hear the waterfall.

Rylan was feeling the need to make silly faces for most of my pictures that day :)

I got a smile though for the first picture at the base of the falls.  The rest were more like the above photo.

(These kids were styling in their winter Crocs and shorts but I didn't want to get their canvas Converse soaked and muddy.  These did the job even if they aren't pretty in this outfit!)

An attempt at a group shot.  Nice.

We hiked VERY slowly and spent a lot of time looking at all the neat bugs and animals that came out with the rain.

We saw tons of millipedes and snails.

Our second stop was just a few miles down the road at Fall Hollow Falls.  The first 100 feet is paved to a viewing platform and then it's dirt trail to the base (which is again about 0.2 miles).

Maybe if the silly faces didn't make us laugh so much, he'd stop making them!

The trail was very muddy but no one had a major wipeout (thank goodness because I didn't bring a change of clothes for the boys).  Rylan slipped a little once while holding my hand and got a little dirty on his butt, but he was able to get over it quickly.

On the way to the base of the falls, there were a couple of small waterfalls that probably were only there because of all the rain.  Carter was excited to touch this one!

Rylan almost got close enough to touch it.

Carter was the leader all day.  He was very brave and only asked to hold my hand a couple of times on tough sections.  He is quite the hiker when he doesn't have the option of being in a carrier on our backs!

Another small waterfall.

Carter had to wait up for Rylan and me a lot.

Made it!

Got a smiling Rylan!

Then a silly face.

Rylan wasn't looking at the camera so Carter tried to force him too.  Luckily no one got mad!

There were tons of small stones in the area and since no one else was around, the boys spent a long time throwing the rocks into the water.

I wished I had my tripod to get some good pictures of the falls.  I tried using a rock but I still had too much movement.

It was a little slippery but I walked Carter behind the falls and left him there to take his picture before running back to help him again.

He thought it was pretty cool to be behind the waterfall!

One last look at the falls before hiking back to the car.

Both boys did amazing and hiked the entire time.  We didn't hike far, but we were going up and down a lot.

Before heading home we drove down the Natchez Trace Parkway another few miles to stop at Meriwether Lewis Park.

There is a cancellation station there for the boys national park passport books and they got 2 new stamps each.

We had so much fun and though it would have been better with Brian, we did great on our own.  I'm really proud of the boys for hiking and having great attitudes that day!