Fossil Springs Hike (by Allison - guest blogger)

This Saturday we hiked to Fossil Springs.

It was a 3 mile downhill hike to get to the springs

It was overcast, slightly breezy, and in the high 70s when we started hiking at 8:30 in the morning.

Perfect conditions for hiking.

Allison was designated photographer for the hikes because she knows how to take pictures. She also is the only one with a good working camera.

(She says: "Please help. I'm tired of everyone using my camera for everything, not being able to find it, it constantly being out of batteries, having a constant fear its going to break and not get paid for, and finding hundreds of pictures of Lego creations on it")

Funds for a new camera for Tye and April can be sent in the mail or given to them personally.

This is Allison before the hike.

Notice she is carrying the heaviest pack. It is 20 pounds.

April is carrying a 10(if even that) pound backpack.

Kyle is wearing a 5lb camel pack.

Emily is carrying a 3lb backpack.

Tye is wearing a fannypack with a couple water bottles.

And Carter is not carrying anything because his water bottle was "too heavy"

This is Allison after the hike, yes it is in the same spot.

Her backpack is still around 20lbs but she is strong and it didn't affect her hiking.

You could say she was the pack horse or the mule but that would come out as rude.

She was more then willing to carry the heavy pack.

It was a great help to her dad who had recently recovered from knee surgery and knee problems and didn't want to re-aggravate it.

We saw a tarantula. April is trying to get it to climb on her hand so she can pet it and give it a name.

This is a part of the trail that make you think you are there but in reality there is still a half mile hike, some of which is through dense thorny brush.

We got to the waterfall at around 11.

When we reached the waterfall this was the view, except we could see around the branches.

This the top of the waterfall. Tye and Allison walked across that log to jump in the water.

Hope this video works.

This is tree Allison and Tye jumped off of.

You can calculate the height just by knowing the timing it takes to hit the water; If you are in a nerdy mood.  (Dad says about 36 ft)

This was a view of the waterfall from the bottom. Behind one of the waterfalls is a small cave and on the far right it washes into what Tye refers to as "the toilet bowl" it swirls around and has a hole at the bottom that you can swim through to reach the body of water in the picture above.

April took most of the pictures when we got to the water and that includes this picture. This is of all the kids and Tye posing in front of the waterfall.

Allison is posing in front of the waterfall.

She would like to add that the combination of the depth of the water in this given area combined with the angle this picture is taken makes her legs look large fat. They are indeed not fat and any largeness there appears to be is just muscle because she is a strong and athletic teenager.

This is a cool spot to jump off of.

Here we are enjoying the perfect 65 degree water. The boys are holding onto Tye because they don't want to swim against the current.

Kyle is modeling for some outdoor, adventure magazine in this picture.

Carter, too, also decided that he would be a great model.

Carter and Tye posing.

Notice how Carter is mostly dry and Tye is dripping wet. I assume you are smart enough to draw your own conclusions about this.

After swimming for about an hour(it was 12:30), we started the 3 mile hike back up the mountain. 

Kyle, along with the girls(not pictured), are waiting for April and Tye who is carrying a very tired Carter up the hill. It was going to be a very long hike back up with that kid.

I don't know what goes on in Emily's head or I would post that as the caption.

Kyle and Allison decided to go a little ahead of the others for a few reasons.

1) The rest of the family was going to slow.

2)They had a good pace

3) Carter's whining was getting annoying.

4)Carter wanted to stop every 20 feet.

5)They didn't want to stop for frequent breaks.

6) By going ahead they could decide the breaks

7)They both like to be ahead, doesn't really matter if it's a race or not.

In this picture I was trying to get a cute shot of Emily, Kyle, and Carter sitting on the log side by side gazing out into the mountains. They have no respect nor interest in listening those who are older then them, so this is what I got instead.

Allison after the end of the hike, A little hot and sweaty but happy, accomplished, and could easily go 10 more miles.

Kyle is aching and exhausted by the end of the hike, but he had a great time.

This is Tye, April, Emily, and Carter after the hike. If you enlarge the photo you can see their expressions a lot better. They all are really tired and ready to get in the car and drive home, but they had no idea how sore they would be.

Family picture after the hike.

We are happy but exhausted.