Stone Door

Grayson went on his first hike on Sunday!  It was a warm day (mid-60s) and we really wanted to take advantage of the nice weather.  That morning Brian found us a fun little hike that was perfect for our family.

We hiked the Stone Door Trail in South Cumberland State Recreation Area.  This part of the park was about 45 minutes east of Manchester (where Bonnaroo is held each year).  So it took us about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get there.  Grayson did really well on the drive there, only fussing a few times for a couple of minutes.

We got a bit of a late start and didn't get there until noon.  We ate our packed lunch and I fed Grayson and then we were on our way.  The hike to the Stone Door is one mile.  The trail is rolling but there aren't any huge hills.  The beginning of the hike is paved to an overlook and then it's a really nice, wide trail after that.

I put Grayson in the Baby Bjorn and he was content.  He was awake for about 5 minutes and then slept the rest of the hike.

At first Carter stopped every couple of minutes and asked me to take his picture.  Which I did, of course!  I'm not going to say no because then when I actually want to take his picture, he may not do it!

 The overlook and the end of the paved section ...

I deleted most but another picture Carter asked me to take :)

On the hike to the Stone Door, Carter led and Rylan trailed behind.  But he walked the whole time!

 We made it to the to of the Stone Door!  The bridge is to an overlook and the top of the Stone Door is to the right.

The Stone Door is a crack in the cliff that runs from the top to the bottom that looks like a door left slightly ajar.  Stones have been placed in it to make steps to get down to the bottom.

It's pretty cool walk to the bottom and the boys did great.

At the bottom of the steps, we took a break and had some snacks.  There was a group top-roping there too that the boys watched (it was a group new to climbing though so they weren't doing much).

We also got a family photo :)

 Brian took the boys one at a time around the corner behind us the above photo to explore the cliff.  He took the camera when he took Rylan over and got a few cute photos.

 After awhile he headed back up the steps.  The boys (without permission) ran off ahead of us.

 Luckily no one got tired half way up!

Once at the top, we crossed the bridge and went out to the overlook.

 Brian took the boys to the edge.  He made them crawl out (it goes straight down off the edge).

They weren't scared at all!

After that we hiked back to the trailhead.  Rylan was a little slow and wanted to be carried at one point but I had thought ahead and had some bribery cookies in the car that kept him going.

When we got to the trailhead, we offered the boys up one more 0.3 mile loop hike that started from the same location to a waterfall.  They both wanted to do it.

This is Laurel Falls (I think we've been to at least 10 Laurel Falls in Tennessee - it's a VERY common name).

 On the ledge at the top of the falls ...

When we made it back to the car, the boys had their treats and I fed Grayson again.  We had planned on one more hike in another part of the park but it was already 3:30 pm and it gets dark so early that we didn't want to risk another mile with our tired boys.

Grayson was more fussy on the way home but both big boys passed out and slept through it.  We had a great day and I'm so glad Grayson got to get out for his first hike!