Cornelius Falls Hike

 On Saturday we loaded up EARLY (being at the drive in until 1 a.m. Friday night suddenly not as brilliant an idea) and returned the carpet cleaner and picked up some snacks then headed to Cleveland to meet the group at the gas station.  We signed our waivers and picked up a can of gas station dog food for Nia, who came along last second.  Matt is a total sucker for that muttlet and her guilt/eyeball routine.

Without much ado, we were on our way to the parking spot, which is on private property.  There are several hikes and floats a year organized by various groups, this was Friends of the Locust Fork River.

We gathered around to do a headcount and chat a bit and eat mullberries before heading down the trail.

There were some 42 people including another set of property owners who met us along the way.

Everyone was very nice, I have not been to many hiking events where people chatted so much, usually folks stick to their own group so it was fun to chat considering I got separated from my own family right away!

This appears as if we walked a few minutes and popped out at the river and the falls were right nearby.  Not the case.  We walked maybe 30 minutes in the woods and another 20 or so by the river.  I was not keeping an eye on the clock, but that feels like an accurate estimation.

We got to the falls and stripped!  I was in that water so fast and it was heavenly!

hellgrammite

I wandered around on my own a while and took some pictures with the underwater camera.  Even though it is technically Katy's camera, it's still my favorite 'adventure' toy.  :)

These are all kids from our teen group, I am SO happy we found an active group and the kids have made good friends with some really good kids.  It makes my mama heart smile.

Matt, avoiding being shot in the head.

Squee!  See the little bitty fish!  That one in front is totally smiling!

Chan and I head behind the waterfall, but ACK!  It's so wet, who knew?  hahaha!

Just in case, like me, you want to know what it looks like under the water under the falls.
Pretty clear!

Matt came and joined me.  While we were mugging a kid tried to get under-you can't see through the veil of water and the gap is TINY.  His leg touched mine and I nearly came unglued, it was either a shark or a snapping turtle, obviously. There's nothing ELSE it could have been.  hahaha!!

This is a photo of both of us.  I am not  the only one who can't aim a camera...

Behind another little falls next to the one we were under.

A newly minted dragonfly!

Lucky find on the way back

Out of the woods and nearly back to the house, everyone crashed for a moment.  The hike was not hard, just HUMID and the return is all uphill, though not steep.
There were a couple scrambles and some sandy bits along the creek and at least 3 trees we had to crawl under and that many again to go over.  It was an athletic type day.  

Back to raiding the mullberry tree.

They refused to hold hands and dance as I sang 'Here we go round the mullberry bush' but they would conga!

Stephen, the house owner, did a tour of how they were set up to live off the grid.

The drive home was SO pretty.  Big puffy clouds and blue sky and everything full on green.

I got sand in my camera-TOTAL accident, there was sand in my shorts pocket of all things.
So, these pics are not zoomed in to get past the fact that I shot them through the windshield because the controls were jammed.  haha!  I got home and sorted it all out, it works fine now which is a big WHEW.
In the meantime, enjoy the reflection of my air vents in the lower part of the pics.

No zoom, but it says Welcome to Centerdale, Al est. late 1800's

 It was a lovely day, I am ever glad there are people who will offer up their time and hospitality to allow for things like exploring a new section of the river.  It was a good hike, too, I like a little action on my walks!  I had 16,000 steps when we got back to the cars!  I had repacked a few cold sodas in the cooler from last night, so we all had a cold drink for the ride home, a very welcome thing.  Showers and laundry and a big dinner followed by a nice nap, we all agreed it was the very best kind of day.