Skinny Dip Falls

We have been in a little bit of a rut recently, going to the same waterfalls over and over again. We knew it was a "safe" (not too long or hard) hike and the waterfalls were pretty to look at. Also, we've had family with us as we've been going to these waterfalls repeatedly and we weren't wanting to try something new when we knew some perfectly good ones we could go to as it was. All that to say, this past weekend, it was just the four of us, and we decided to head up the Blue Ridge Parkway to hike to a new waterfall. We wore our bathing suits and packed a lunch, thinking we could take a swim in the pool at the bottom of the falls, then have a picnic lunch. On the drive up (and I mean up-we were nearing a mile elevation!), we were literally driving through the clouds, making it difficult to see. The drive was beautiful, if were able to keep your mind off the cliffs you're driving fairly close to. Anyways, we hiked to the falls and loved it. The difference with this waterfall from the others we've gone to was that the hike was much more hike-like...meaning, lots of roots and rocks on the trail, which we enjoyed. Also, rather than just look at this waterfall, we were able to climb all around it on rocks-that made it so much more fun to me. I like the interactive waterfall! As previously mentioned, we had planned to swim at the falls, but little did we know how cool it would be. When I stepped out of the car to start the hike, I wished I had a jacket-it was that cool. Not expected. It was a fun morning-so fun, we spent too much time at Skinny Dip falls to be able to hike to the other waterfall we had planned to view the same morning. I guess we'll have to plan another trip up there sometime soon!

Here's the view from the bottom:
My little hiking buddy:

Bob with his heavy hiker:

And the view from the top:

Having a good time:

Addie ended up needing to get out of the backpack, due to small spaces we were climbing in. It worked out, though. She is a great little hiker-just not ready to go without the backpack completely yet!

Getting tired:

Time to hike back to the car: