Greenville, SC Day 3

After a morning of sleeping in and laying around, we were ready for some exercise. After deliberation, we settled on Jones Gap State Park and a 1.5 mile trail with little elevation change. Grandma and Grandpa decided to give it a go with us. 

The first mile followed the stream and was not steep, BUT the trail was covered with large rocks. At the trail divide, Grandma and Grandpa decided to turn around. For Karen to go that mile just a year after her heart surgery was AMAZING!

At the divide, Jeremy looked at the map and suggested we take the longer trail (2.5 miles) to the bigger waterfall. I'm not one to pass up a hike and the kids were game and so we set out...at a fast pace...very much uphill. Mountain views never get old to me!

(I just got side tracked looking for another hiking destination. lol)

We passed a couple coming down the mountain and they said, "Be careful up there. There are snakes." I don't do snakes and I thought maybe we should turn around. We were committed by that point though. 

After a while (when we thought we should be pretty near the top, but we weren't) we passed another family and they said, "Be careful. There is a pack of rattlesnakes at the top. AND we saw a black bear." We definitely had to finish at that point. We were all on high alert and the children carried on as usual with loud voices and calling back and forth to each other. I figured that was a pretty good deterrent to seeing any wildlife. It worked. We didn't see any snakes or bears.

And then we got to the top and there was the Rainbow Falls.

That's as far as Anna and I got. We were tired and hungry. That's where I failed. We had water and no snacks.

Jeremy, Aliza, Josiah and Isaiah went up the last bit to have the best view.

 Heading back down we knew it would take a little less time and we saw that the visitor center had snacks. Everyone was looking forward to a snack!

Isaiah and I stuck together going down at the back of our pack. The others would get ahead of us and then take a break...until Isaiah and I caught up. That meant that Isaiah and I didn't get a break! We took our own breaks. It's so sweet to still have a 9 year old. He would want to hold my hand and then he'd say, "Mom, you are doing great. You are such a trooper!" 

We did finally make it to the bottom of the mountain only to find out that the visitor center had closed. Isaiah just burst into tears. He was so tired and hungry and we still had to walk to the car. (We stopped at the first gas station with food that we came to!)

That turned out to be a 6 mile round trip hike and the hardest trail that Anna and Isaiah have done. Memories made!