Hike #1 - Devil's Den

So, I have decided that one of the most difficult parts of this is going to be deciding which pictures to use.  There are so many great shots along these trails, that it is hard to narrow it down, but on we go.

Apparently there is a thing called First Day Hikes that is promoted by the American Hiking Society (also a thing).  The goal is to get people active in the new year, and parks have been encouraged to offer special guided hikes today.

We headed to Devil's Den State Park for our "First Day Hike." Devil's Den also had some overnight "ring in the new year" backpacking hikes, which may be fun in the future.  We tried out three trails today, the Devil's Den Trail, Lake Trail, and CCC Trail.  This was the first time we had done hiking in the cold.  We bundled up and there was no complaining at all.

The Devil's Den Trail is considered a moderate 2 mile trail that we had done before.  Our kids didn't have much trouble with it, and there is really only one spot that gets a little tricky. There are some narrow spots with a fall to either side that would make your day pretty unpleasant.  The midpoint and highlight of the trail are a couple waterfalls that are very pretty although not very powerful.  The most enjoyable part for us today was getting off trail a bit.  We could hear some more falling water off to the side.  We hiked over a short hill and could see the waterfall, but between us and the falls was a downed tree over a creek bed.  The tree was very wide, and you can tell from wear that it has had many hundreds of feet go across it.  So the danger was very little, but it still felt like an adventure.

Next we did the Lake Trail.  Lee Creek runs through the park and near the visitors center a dam pools the water into a small lake with a very powerful though man made waterfall.  This trailhead is near a nice clear shallow waterhole that would be great if it wasn't January.  There are some nice picnic tables and grills on both sides.  This trail is an easy half mile along the blue water, past the spillway waterfall, and across a modern cable bridge that crosses rapids.  Much to the kids' enjoyment there is also a nice playground at the end.

Finally we did the CCC trail, which was the park's "First Day" guided hike.  This was only about a quarter mile easy trail that walked past the ruins of the old CCC crew who built this park and most of the others around the state.  We were impressed with how well the kids paid attention to a guided tour.  They asked lots of questions.

Travel time from home: 35 minutes
Today's miles: 3.2
Remaining miles: 96.8