It's taken more than four years for Nana and Papa to get over the near death experience on the Otter Falls Death March. In the meantime I've learned to moderate my goals when hiking with the kids so this time we targeted Franklin Falls just upstream.
The trail is one I know well. Really well. It's short, not steep, and pretty. Plus it has a pretty good waterfall at the end as a payoff.
We made great time up the trail. Everybody walked except for Henry. He ran. In fact, he behaved just like Tokul would have by running up a bit, then back, then up again. Just like Tokul he eventually tired enough to be content to walk with the rest of us.
As the trail joined up with the road at about the 3/4 point I got some dirty looks from Nana. I tried to explain that was the cheater's lot and we weren't cheaters and therefore didn't cheat which is what we'd have done had we parked in the cheater's lot. I don't think she really bought it, but since we were almost to the falls we continued ahead.
At the falls we found the water was way high (not a big surprise) and the area we would usually get down to the "beach" was well underwater. So instead we took a quick couple of pictures and beat a hasty retreat. After all, there was food waiting for us in North Bend.
Henry tried a bit more running, but that ended when he put his foot in a hole and got a wee little scratch that bled like a head wound for some reason. He didn't seem to notice or care until Clara pointed it out at which point he only wanted to ride on my shoulders.
All was made better when we arrived at Scott's Dairy Freeze and found milkshakes ready for us. Amazing what a bit of sugar can do for one's spirits. Even Nana thought the hike was ok and she might even go on another.
Total distance was two miles and 300 feet of gain. Just right.
