Cedar Falls Archives - JDaniel4s Mom

My friend Bethany runs a blog called Kidding Around Greenville. She brings to my attention all kinds of wonderful activities and events that are happening in Greenville, South Carolina that I might have missed otherwise. The latest thing she has shared is an opportunity offered by our local parks. The Park and Recreation department is hosting a Park Hop. The Hop is really a scavenger hunt that includes visits to 17 parks in our county. At each park you are asked to find the answer to a scavenger hunt question. When we have answered at least five questions, we can send in our answers for a prize pack. There are additional levels of winning based of visiting more parks and gathering more correct answers. JDaniel and I have been to eight parks so far. The most recent park is Cedar Falls Park. It isn’t too far from where we live, but it is on a road we have never traveled down. Even with directions to the park I missed the turn. I was looking for a sign pointing me to the park and their wasn’t one.

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?