Day Hike to Savage Falls

This past weekend featured beautiful weather and a highly anticipated return trip to the Savage Gulf State Natural Area. Because it was still somewhat cool and breezy when we arrived, we decided to eat our peanut butter-and-honey sandwiches in the car. Afterward, we strolled over to the Savage Ranger Station and commenced to hike the 4.2-mile Savage Day Loop, along with the 1.0-mile there-and-back to Savage Falls.

There was some of the usual friction between the junior members of our expedition, but this quickly ceased as we emerged from the woods, binoculars in hand, to take in the view from Rattlesnake Point.

 

 From here it was a short trek to the spur trail leading to the Savage Falls Overlook. Our party completely took over this small overlook, so we were quite fortunate with our timing in that we didn't disturb or get disturbed by anyone. After all, just five minutes earlier we had encountered a couple and their two dogs on the trail, one of which wasn't on a leash. Tara was assured by their owners that the dogs were quite friendly, and so they were allowed to sniff one another. I had walked on ahead out of sight, as I was not really interested in watching the animals take turns smelling each other's butts. Though out of sight, I was not out of earshot before the loud and threatening barking started. Turns out, one of the dogs wasn't very friendly at all. It had tried to take a bite out of our dog, prompting its partner to morph into an obnoxious fit of rage. It was as if we'd just encountered the canine versions of Mike Tyson and Don King. Fortunately, everyone managed to get their dogs into their separate corners, and we moseyed on down the trail to the waterfall.

We had a snack just upstream of the waterfall before employing our rock hopping skills to engage in some fiecely competitive leaf racing. Unfortunately, not all of us have perfected our rock hopping technique, as one of the juniors danced her way right into the water. It was a little cool for a swim, so it was a good thing we were headed back to the trailhead.

                                                                Site of the water incident


We closed our 5.2 mile journey back at the ranger station and immediately began planning our next outing. A little later, the littlest junior enjoyed relaying her amphibious adventures in the Savage Gulf to her papa.