After months of thinking and lot of gear and food prep, we are starting the hike today. It was hard to sleep last night as all the details kept me focused on the are we really ready? Up at 6, ate our favorite cold cereal with apples, fresh blackberries, bananas and yogurt. We picked up nephew James at 7 and drove to Molly’s house, Wendy’s daughter. Molly is doing our first resupply so we dropped our food boxes off and Wendy joined us for the drive to the Bridge of the Gods. Since we were doing a highly recommended alternative trail starting at Eagle Creek, James took our packs to meet us at the trailhead while we walked across the bridge and the 3 miles to Eagle Creek. Good and easy warm up to get our legs in gear. We said goodbye to James and headed up the trail. We hiked next to Eagle Creek which was running quite low. Several day hikers and north bound thru hikers passed us. This part of the trail is quite scenic with numerous water falls. The most famous one being Tunnel Falls which is the destination for most day hikers.The CCC carved out a trail along the mountain side as well as a tunnel that goes behind the falls. About a mile past the falls we found our first campsite next to the creek. We are all thankful for being on the trail. The John Muir saying of, “Climb the mountains and let the cares fall away like leaves falling from a tree” come to mind before falling asleep.

Mileage hiked 9 miles - 1 mile past tunnel falls