Sand Dunes Camping: Zapata Falls

Tuesday morning I finally got to enjoy the group-work plan as I didn't have to cook. Luke and Arnaud were on breakfast duty. Pancakes are always a huge hit!

Our excursion for the day was to hike the Zapata Falls. It was supposed to be an "easy" half mile hike. The drive up there was an adventure in itself. It was several miles on a crazy off-roading path. We weren't even sure that all the cars would make it. 

It probably took 45 minutes just to get to the trailhead. The kids were excited to start the hike

It wasn't long before we found the river. We knew that we'd be hiking through the water so most of the kids had on water shoes. They were super excited to start hiking through the river

 

It wasn't long before everyone realized how cold the water was. It wasn't just cold... it was FREEZING. Soon our feet began to go numb and everyone was trying hard to stay out of the water

The waterfall was inside a cave so we had to hike inside the cave a little while to see it. The cave was loud and freezing and some of the kids were scared to go in. This is as far as I made it. I didn't realize that this wasn't the actual falls. Apparently you had to hike up and look around the corner behind this small waterfall to see the large one. 

 

But my feet were painfully numb and the kids were all crying by this point so I just snapped a quick pic and started heading back


Every single child was crying by the time we got to dry land. I have to admit my feet were hurting so bad so i could understand their pain. But to have all the kids crying was pretty funny and we couldn't help but laugh.


We snapped this quick pic showing who enjoyed the hike and who didn't...


The hike back was much slower as none of the kids wanted to touch the freezing water. It was difficult to navigate the edges of the water and we had to pass many of the kids from adult to adult


Back at the trail head all the kids were able to warm up and re-group again. It was also a great picture spot, you can see the sand dunes in the background

After the freezing waterfalls, we headed out to the hot sand dunes!

The river was flowing and the water here was comfortable... no where near as freezing as the falls

That night we enjoyed another group meal around the campfire

And more apple cider

At sunset we walked down the campground a ways to watch the sun set behind the dunes

Then it was time for campfire pies!

And more scary stories

This was turning out to be a great trip!