Hiking at Lost Valley

Wow! I love hiking in October in Arkansas: the weather is perfect! My friend, Kim Petrone, recommended Lost Valley to me after she saw my blog post about Devil's Den. I looked it up in my Arkansas Dayhikes book and it sounded gorgeous, so we decided to check it out. It was beautiful and has so much geographic variety for a short hike! The drive over was a little far, so this would be an ideal spot for camping and then waking up to a morning hike.

Justus loves riding in his backpack! Once again, he slept for over half of the hike and rode along contently the rest of the time.

Daddy, Titus, and Audra blazing the trail ahead.

On the hike in Audra was not quite as content as Justus. She wanted a ride, too. This reminded me so much of when I was a little girl and rode EVERYWHERE on my Dad's shoulders (including his morning jogs and volksmarches through mountain vineyards when he was stationed in Germany). I had to take a picture to show Gramps.

There are so many gorgeous things to see on this hike, but my camera (or my photography) did not do them justice. Here Audra is throwing rocks into a creek in front of a massive natural bridge/tunnel. Scott and the kids climbed up into and through it. Justus and I followed the trail and met them on the other side. Then Scott and Titus climbed up the trail to the cave, while Audra, Justus and I went down to the waterfall. Titus reported that the back of the cave has a room with a waterfall pouring down into it! This time of year both waterfalls are only a trickle. I can only imagine what it will look like in the Spring! I'm looking forward to it!