You know when you have all the best intentions and you say to yourself, “Tomorrow I’m going on a hike.” But then you wake up and it’s cold, and you’re tired, and then you decide to stay in bed just a little while longer. And then you convince yourself that you need to shower, but remind yourself that it’s so cold outside, and then you end up saying, “Eh, forget it.” … or is it just me? :\Well, this was the first day I DIDN’T do that. If I’m being honest, I think lately, I’ve been reminding myself that I don’t have that much time left living with my kids who will soon be off to college, and living on their own.  So… this ever-present thought has pushed me to get out of the house.I’ve always wanted to hike to a waterfall before, but after endless thinking about all the reasons I can’t go, I usually convince myself to stay around the house.  After all, there are too many things to do, clean, organize, make sure there’s food in the house, feed the dog, and the bunny… the list is endless.  NOT TODAY SALLY, NOT TODAY.

We actually got in the car, drove 40 mins to the Pasadena area to Eaton Canyon trails and started walking.  We clearly aren’t experienced hikers… looking around at other hikers, we thought, um, we forgot a backpack; should we bring our phones (the answer, YES); should I have worn a hat? (the answer, NO); are these tennis shoes ok?  Anyway, we kept walking.

Pretty early into the hike, we were met with our the first stream crossing.  Of course, it took me forever to figure out how to navigate the crossing like ‘Frogger,’ stepping only on the stones above the water, trying not to get wet.  FAIL. Oh well. We kept going.

After crisscrossing that same stream 10 times and the further we got, the more I kept saying, “Isn’t it pretty?” “Isn’t this beautiful?” “Look at how gorgeous this is!” Clearly had been a while since I had been “one with nature.”  It was exactly what I needed.  To disconnect.  Except for the occasional photo, and insta story additions of course. After all, if you didn’t post it, did it really happen?  Was it really beautiful? 😉

In the end it was only about four miles roundtrip, so not a major commitment. One thing to note is that if you’re expecting a quiet retreat, this is not the hike for you.  It was… busy… loaded with people.  At some crossings you had to wait for others to, well, cross.  I will say, the crowds didn’t take anything away from my experience. I still loved every crunchy step.  This was a gorgeous hike, and I can’t wait to go back! So get out there and … take a hike!