The kids were so excited to get back to Starved Rock and explore some more trails. This time we headed for the Ottawa Canyon. Tater, of course, was with us and I think he was even happier than the kids were!
All along the trail we would come up on these little caves.
That is a picture of me and the kids on a big rock outside of the cave in the picture above this one. Pete took it for us.
Here is yet another small cave along the way to the canyons. Livie is doing her "Yeti call"!
There was a LOT of mud surrounding the creeks. We were super-muddy by the time we left. Me more than the kids though. Pete always found a way to discover the best way to pass over and would help the kids. Me? I'd just walk through the creek and get muddy. After falling in, I gave up trying and full embraced the mud! :-)
This was the first canyon we went to. I can't remember its name. It was on a trail that went to the left of the Ottawa canyon. It had a really pretty waterfall. The water was soooo cold though! Definitely still winter, though the outside temps this week prove otherwise.
The kids liked this cavern, because they could touch the ceiling. I don't think Pete could stand up in this one.
I love exploring the canyons more than the topside trails. The beauty down there is all around you.
Because most, if not all, of the rock in that area is sandstone, we found lots of sandbanks. This one had rocks that had fallen off the side of the canyon. The kids liked picking up and loading up our backpacks with the rocks they found.
Tater was cracking us up with his incessant need to pick up sticks along the way. This one was so big, he could barely carry it, but he was determined to make this sticks his!
There were a few times we had to cross big trees like this to get where we were going. This one they climbed, though, just for fun.
Livie wanted her picture taken by this big, giant rock!
This is Ottawa Canyon. We were the only ones there for a while and because the entry into it is narrow, we decided to take Tater off his leash and let him run around. I WISH my video was working, because it was hilarious to see him run around. I would call him from the other side of this pond and he ran right through the middle of it until he couldn't touch, then he got a little freaked out and swam/ran back to Pete. Then he discovered the shallow part and would barrell through there to the other side to run past me and run back to Pete and the kids again. He did this for a good 10min before people started showing up. After all that walking and climbing and hiking, that 10 min was enough to wipe him out. We left to hike back to the van at this point and was a lot slower and calmer on that trek back. And, of course, as soon as we got the van, he laid right down and took a nap on the way home. He might make our hiking a little crazier, but he sure makes it a lot more fun! We had a great time and were so thankful for the beautiful weather, so we could get outside and enjoy it!
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