A man at the Fountain Inn Farmer’s Market (Also a location on the Park Hop) mentioned how pretty the falls were at the Cedar Falls Park and what wonderful trails it had. I was surprised to find a large parking lot with a wonderful playground at the front of the park. In my mind we would park in a lot surrounded by trees and leave the parking lot via the trail head to the falls. JDaniel was thrilled to see the playground and he was dying to explore it.
I encourage him to explore the trails first so, we headed down a winding trail across a field and into the woods. We kept listening for the sound of rushing water. It wasn’t until we followed the trail beyond the buffer of trees that we actually heard it.
There were actually several falls. Some were small and others medium size. Apparently the falls were used by a power plant and several local business in the past. Right now you can see every little evidence that those businesses ever existed.
While there was a paved path, you know who preferred the dirt path least taken through the border of trees and over the rocks. There he found small streams that had carved their way through the rock. JDaniel was fascinated by the power the water had over time on the rocks.
There weren’t as many animals to see as we did on our visit to another local park Paris Mountain State Park. JDaniel did spy a salamander scurrying as quickly as possible over one rock and under another. There was just a lot of water.
JDaniel was constantly dipping his hands into the shallow water near the water’s edge to see what it felt like and let the water flow around his fingers. I stood very close by despite the shallowness of the water.
What a wonderful place Cedar Falls Park is to explore! We have several other parks that list hiking as one of the activities you can do there. I think we will enjoy visiting them along with the nine other parks on the Park Hop. We are going for the grand prize and that means we will be visiting every park on the Park Hop. I bet you aren’t surprised.
Do you have Park Hop going on where you live?
I’ve never heard of anything like that, but I would have done it with my kids if I had. So much fun!
We have never been to Cedar Falls Park either, but we are going to have to go there! We visited Airport Park last night for the first time since the playground equipment went up. It was wonderful!
Paris Mountain is doing a 4th of July scavenger hunt next week. You might be interested in that.
I don’t think we have anything like this, but what a phenomenal idea!! I can’t believe that a random park there just has these beautiful falls!! How awesome!! We’d do something like this in a heartbeat!! –Lisa
That’s neat! I’m going to share this with my SIL in case she’d like to do the park hop w/ her boys.
I have never done a park hop, but I love the idea!
Park Hop sounds like an awesome idea. I have to check if we have it at our area. This park looks and sounds beatuiful!
A park hop sounds like lots of fun! We should create our own this summer.
What a delightful adventure you two had.
=)
Hello! I had a question for you about possibly collaborating on something and was hoping you could email me back to discuss? Thanks so much!
– Arianna
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I cannot wait to visit!!
What a great summer you are having! When my boys were young we often went to a place called “Ohiopyle” which had great falls and trails etc. They loved it. You are creating great memories! 🙂
Never thought of that name before, but it’s something we do around here. It’s so funny how there are so many parks, or rather play areas these days and each one seems to have their own magical reasons for play!
I’ve never heard of a park hop, but that is a great idea! This looks like a very beautiful place to visit.
You always share such wonderful information with everyone. Always a joyful evening to visit you here. I know you and JDaniel are having a fun summer.
What a pretty park! The playground looks great, too!
If we do I don’t know about it, but I’d def. be interested if we did. This looks like a great visit, and waterfalls to boot!
Wat a lovely idea, a park hop. It must be so exciting for JDaniel to go from one park to another and exploring them all. And playgrounds are the best for children. Have a nice week.
Great place to walk around for sure. We are planning a hike this summer. I shared an Fearless here if you care to check it out. http://www.mariasspace.com/2013/06/bugs-equal-happiness.html
Pretty cascades.
A park hop is a wonderful idea–just the adventure you would love to take on! I know JDaniel would be enthralled!!
oh how i wish we had that here…
we went to the falls near us the other day…
i will be posting pictures soon.
i will sure enough tell someone that they need to think about doing a park hop here ;)thanks
Hello gorgeous! This is another beautiful blog post. You always give something special information. JDaniel is so lucky! Park hops looks like really fun and I would love to do it with Olivia,too.
Have a lovely weekend.
Scudds x
What a great idea to do a park hop! Perfect for keeping the kids happy and outside this summer! Love it
I think JDaniel would like one of the state parks we go to. There are trails for hiking and alligators! He wouldn’t be putting his hands in the water there.
Water falls are always a fascination for all ages. Lovely photos.
The Park Hop sounds like such a fun idea…
There must be so many fascinating things to find on these scavenger hunts!
Fabulous post for the letter “F”.
Thanks for linking.
A+
We were able to visit all 17 of the parks on the Park Hop Passport. We have done so many neat things this summer, but our favorite was visiting all the cool parks in the area. I can’t wait for the Park Hop Closing Ceremonies on Wednesday 🙂 Thanks for sharing your adventure!