Saturday, August 11, 2012

Switzer Falls - A Saturday Morning Hike

This morning...


very very early..


we got the Tweedles up and dressed and headed off into the Angeles National Forest to the trail head for Switzer Falls.

We wandered down about a mile to a mile and a half (without LW and her handy phone app, we never know for sure exactly how far we're hiking)..



which put us pretty far into a nice little valley.


criss-crossing (everybody say jump jump - anyone remember Kris Kross?  Anyone?) the water running along the trail.



Past the graffitied rock.  And can we just take a moment to talk about this?  Graffiti, on a rock, out in the middle of no-where.  How exactly did that conversation go?? "Hey Homie, I know how we should kick a Saturday night.  Let's drive our hoopties all the way out into no-where in the Angeles National Forest.  Then hike down a trail - bad ass style with our pants falling down to our knees - with all of our spray cans, and tag a rock.  Just so any of those other hiking gang-bangers will know this is our turf!"  Yeah, these kids need a new hobby. It just kills me every time I see it on the trails we hike on.  Who knew the Forestry Service had such a gang problem on their hands.

Anyway.. we hiked down until we reach these old style camp stoves the US Forestry Service put in, who knows how long ago. You can't camp here anymore, but these indicate at least Rangers have in the past.


And instead of heading up towards the falls lookout, we headed just a little ways down (blatantly ignoring a sign clearly warning about the danger of the falls -and we only ignored this because we knew we weren't going that far).  Just a hop-skip-jump down the trail we found this perfect little spot for The Tweedles to play in the water.


They wasted no time getting into the water.  And I know it looks a little gloomy, but remember that it's So Cal in AUGUST.  It was already 77 when we left the house at 6:30 am.  By the time we reached this little spot the water sure felt nice.


And of course, they headed right for the tiny waterfall.


Later, they came out and had some beef jerky...


before Daddy started rock skipping lessons.


Bug did pretty good.


And so did Bunny.


And of course, The Hubs rocked it.. get it.. he rock-ed it! 


Triple skipping and more.  He should go professional!


And when they got tired of that, Bug decided to just throw the biggest rock he could in.  Nothing but subtle, my boy.


And what one does.. the other must do as well.


I think they found this much more satisfying than skipping rocks.  Then it was back up the trail.


and the obligatory sprint to the car.  It's a family tradition.  Unless you're carrying the camera.  Somehow I am always carrying the camera. (I love that shaft of light in this photo!)

Seriously.. Thoughts?

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