Hike to the Waterfall

Hiking is one of David's favorite things to do.  I love it, too.  The kids really enjoy it for the most part, but we have to employ some serious encouragement tactics when we are tackling a hike longer than an hour.  They all really were troupers and we always end up having fun and say that is was all worth it.  This time we drove a couple of hours to another national park in the area and went to go see some waterfalls.

We were a little surprised to see that the beginning of the trail looked more like a tour of a working farm.  It was fun to see sheep for a change.  In the northern desert where we live there are only goats.

We also saw cows.  The kids just love it when we see any baby animal.

This is one big pig, right?

It was so funny to see them dig in the dirt with their snouts and make those classic piggy snorts.

This is one animal that we were really hoping to see, but didn't.  It is called a Monito Del Monte or Monkey of the Mountain.  It is a marsupial that is native to this area and lives at about 1,100 meters. (Yeah, we've gone metric.  It is hard to have to convert all the time)  They eat seeds, insects and fruits.  They can hang upsidedown from their tales to hibernate, or sleep...I am trying to translate the sign from Spanish and am not sure which it is.  They sure are cute.  We kept trying to see if we could find signs of them.

We enjoyed seeing all the different types of vegetation that grows in this area.  The moss and the climbing vines makes the trees look so jungly. (I know, not a real word)

One tree was dropping all of these perfectly round, dark seeds.  Evan, our collector, had fun seeing how many of them he could hold in his hands.

 

The wild mushrooms grew happily here too.  It kind of looks like a condominium complex.

Here is a close look at the Araucaria tree again.  The leaves are spiny and sharp.

The lower part of the trail wrapped around this lake called Lago Tinquilco.  The lakes here are really spectacular.

Half way up to the waterfall is a ranger station that is manned during the summer time.  We were able to take a break, get a snack and rest before the last ascent to the cascades.

 

The falls were lovely.  They call them Nido de Aguila or the Eagles nest.  With all the fallen logs at the base of the cascade, it really did look like a nest.  One of the nice things about traveling this time of year is that we rarely see other people and feel like we pretty much have the place to ourselves.

 

It is nice when one of the older kids can take a picture of Dave and I together.

 

The boys got a closer look at the lower falls.  BJ and Evan love to explore with their dad.