Weatherholtz Family: Jumping Rock

This morning we did a float tour on the Snake River. This was such a treat for all of us. The water was crystal clear and pristine. The scenery was breath-taking. One of the things we love about this area is the water. Most of the hiking trails and roads are next to water. There are streams, lakes, rivers, and even glaciers all over.

Our guide Reed. He does float tours during the summer and snow mobile tours in the winter.

James is loving the slo-mo video feature on his phone!

Our guide spotted bald eagles about four times. They were always in pairs.

The girls loved the little bit of "white" water we came to. I think they may be ready for real white water!

A marmot hanging out on the rocks enjoying the sun.

Lily noticed the "heart" in the tree scape. Our guide told us that that is actually Ross Perot's house and the landscapers purposely created that opening!

After the float trip, they provided us with a great picnic lunch on the bank of the river. I highly recommend Barker-Ewing!

Next we stopped for a ranger program on bison. Luckily the tour was located at the trailhead to Phelps Lake, which is the hike we wanted to tackle that afternoon.

While the kids and James learned about bison, I roamed up the path a bit to check things out. One thing I have been saying this whole trip is that I would love some time to sit by a stream and read. Well, today I got it. I found the most peaceful stream and read for a solid thirty minutes. Ahhhhhh...

Once they were done with the program, we set out for our hike. It was about a mile to the lake and then we wanted to find "jumping rock."

It was a little further than we thought, but we made it to jumping rock. This is not an official park feature but many had mentioned that we must see/try jumping rock. The girls were excited about finding the rock and swimming in the lake.

So we made it. It didn't look so big from far away. It didn't look like a THIRTY FOOT jump from far away. Lily had in her mind the whole way that she was going to jump. Once there, she was actually still thinking about doing it! She asked James to go first.

Look at my tiny baby girl actually considering this jump.

And then she walks right up to the edge and JUMPS!!

There was a gentleman there that had been talking to us about the rock - how many people actually jump and how high it is. When Lily jumped he said, "that is one brave little girl." That man was so right. Lily was terrified but made up her mind that she was tackling this. I am so proud of my girl.