Russian River Falls--Trail

As our time with Capri drew to a close, we made a plan for one Saturday of play. We put aside chores around the house and Capri got time off of work . . . and we made the beautiful drive to just past Cooper Landing. Hmmm. Beautiful drive. I have decided that the Kenai River is now my favorite. Crystal blue water, lush green banks, carving through mountains. I love the drive down to the Kenai Peninsula.

We knew we were up against a "chance of rain," but we decided to go on our hike anyway. After all, every day for 33 days in a row we had rain this summer . . . so we can't always let the rain cancel our plans.

In spite of his look in this picture, David was really thrilled to be in a backpack for the ride.

But he didn't like the idea of having to wear a hat. He kept it on (mostly) but we were constantly picking it up from the trail and returning it to his head. The hat was because it started to sprinkle just as we started out.

David was better about leaving his hat on once we pointed out that Daddy had a hat, too.

To say that the hike was beautiful is a great understatement. The trail was breathtaking, especially with all the green undergrowth as a result of this year's rainy summer. The rain has also contributed to this summer as "the year of the mushrooms." These bright little beauties dotted the moss-covered ground. Don't you think it looks like a little fairy should be perched on top of this perfectly domed shroom?

Look at this well placed bench along the trail. You can see from Sam's shirt that we were all wet by this point. The bench was located 3 feet off the trail that was soaked with rain, but it was built under the protection of a huge fir tree . . . and it was bone dry.

More of the beautiful trail:

Unfortunately, by this time we were all soaked. And while David was still in good spirits, we had to calculate the time it would take to get back to the car and the fact that he was hiking through his naptime. After about ten more minutes of hiking, we decided to turn back early instead of go all the way to the falls. We were glad we made that decision when we did, because after we turned around David was a more fickle hiker. For starters, he was done with the backpack. So Pah-pri was a champ to hike it out.

He kept asking for a tudd-oh tudd-oh (cuddle cuddle--remember we were hiking during his naptime).

The he would turn his cuddling time into a game of peek-a-boo with Sam and the other hikers.

Our playful little boy has a hard time passing up a chance to play and laugh . . . even though he was really wanting a nap on Daddy's shoulder.

Sometimes he walked next to Sam. A couple of times I carried him . . . but in his tired state of fighting all reason, he quickly becomes stronger than I can handle when he throws his head back to make a point. So Daddy carried on with him like a champ.

We finally made it back to the car with David bouncing along like a sack of potatoes.

Still giggling.

Like I said, Sam was a champ to keep our tired boy happy and playing games.

Once in the car, we weren't to the end of the parking lot yet when I turned around, and this is what I saw:

Sweet dreams, little hiker.

We'll be back again to the Russian River Falls, and next time we'll see more than just the trail.

We'll make it to the falls and to the lake.