When two plus two does not equal four

It is.. well, was - Saturday AM. Dad and I were trying to decide what to do with our day off here in VA. Sight-seeing, yes, but where. I do a bit of a google search and find some information on the Cascades Recreation Area, which is part of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.

The Recreation area has a picnic area, but the showcase is a trail that leadsup Little Stoney Creek to the Cascades waterfall. According the website:

The trail itself is a thing of beauty also.  Much of it has been carved directly into existing rock and there are numerous stone steps, walls and walkways.  Four bridges allow hikers to get even closer to the creek and be surrounded by the sounds and sprays of falling water. Since the trail is so close to the creek, rocks may be slippery or icy, so be careful.

When I first read about this place this morning… I did read the part that said ” Visitors can hike a two-mile trail to view spectacular Cascades waterfall and afterward enjoy a picnic lunch or go fishing.” And when I read that, I didn’t think much of it. Even reading this sentence, “Many hikers take the lower trail to the falls and return by the upper trail, making a 4-mile loop.”, things didn’t really sink in. But even so… four miles isn’t that bad.  Until you see the trail itself. Overall, it is not that bad, but you are going upstream against the flow of a creek. Creeks run downhill, which means to get to the falls you have two miles of going UPhill. And this is not a gently flowing creek, this creek is nothing but “waterfalls” such as the one above, and this one…

So every two-foot, five-foot, or ten-foot drop meant that much going UP. Now I’m not really complaining… the scenery the whole way up was beautiful. See…

Dad’s leg was acting up when we got to the halfway point. We were going along fairly leisurely, taking lots of pics and such, but he decided to head back and wait at the car. I pressed onward, and the second half just kept going up and up. There were some nice stairways set up in the stone, like this one…

So yea, that two miles in, two miles out felt like it was a LOT more than four miles total. What kept me going the last half-mile or so was the realization that after I got to the falls and headed back, I would be going all downhill. I made it to the falls, and it was worth it. I took off my shoes and socks and waded around for awhile before heading back. Dad was waiting for me with a bottle of water. I will leave you with this parting shot of the falls, you can see that it is a pretty good drop based on the people standing at the bottom of it. If you want to see more, head over to my photo gallery.

Virgina Trip [photos.upmykilt.net]