As I walked out of church on Sunday, I couldn't believe how fantastic the weather was. Since I hadn't been on a hike in quite awhile, I was determined to go home and convince my family we needed to hit the trails. To my utter amazement it didn't take much convincing. WAHOO! I got the kiddos ready and picked up the oldest at a friends house and we set off to find the mysterious Labarque Nature Area and find the Labarque caches.
My husband and I were familiar with the general area. He had a friend who lived on Wade Rd when we were in high school, but alot has changed since then. Thank goodness for the precise directions are else we may not have made it back. :) We parked in the designated area and read, then reread, the directions to make sure we were on the right track. As we made our way down the road we crossed paths with a very beautiful hawk, that to my surprise was not frightened by us at all. We walked within 20 ft of the hawk and it never flew away. It sat perched upon the branch king of his domain as we passed. It was quite a site. We crossed the first creek and as we did so my 3 y/o decided that was the perfect time to be wiggley. Yikes! Thank goodness the hubby grabbed me before we both went fully in the creek. So after being a bit wet we headed up to the long awaited bluff. I say long awaited because my hubby has been wanting to come back here for some time. He use to come here with his friends and camp under the stars down below the bluff. It has quite a view from the top, which we all enjoyed.
We ascended the hill, following the directions, with all4 kids in tow. By now the 3 y/o was not a happy camper. What is it about a gps that makes the user forget about those who are following? My hubby was on a mission, I think, as the 3 y/o and I could hardly keep up. Thank goodness for those nice rocks to rest on or I think they would have left us behind. :) We got within .32 miles of the cache before we had to turn around. We didn't start the trek until late in the afternoon. I just wanted to get out hiking, which is what we were able to do. If you haven't been out here to find these caches, I highly recommend it. It is absolutely beautiful. We will defintely be back to attack those caches.