Chilled Waterfall Walk

Hiking in the wintertime is definitely one of my favorite things to do! It's cold but also beautiful at the same time. When you're hiking in the cold weather, it works out in the long run because we tend to be more indoors and sedentary in the winter since the temperature is quite a bit colder than we prefer it to be for a lot of outdoor things but at the same time, it's good because it's a lot easier to warm up than it is to cool down!

The little man has been a little picky for being outdoors lately and I think it's because he's more used to enjoying the summertime and warm weather with all of the fun activities that we did this past year lol he's fought me on going outside which he normally doesn't do! I did get him outside though and he certainly enjoyed it once we were moving.

The place we went to is a reservoir I think and it's got a lot of water moving around which is cool because it also has a lot of different dams and elevations in the water table. With the onset of winter in the area, one of the things that many of the local water management groups do is lower the water table so that things die off and it preserves the shoreline, at least that's their justification. I don't know exactly how well that works.. but that's a story for another day I suppose!

What this means though is that some of the areas are more accessible in the wintertime than they are during the summer! This area is certainly one of those that fits into this category. We have been here a few times in the past but the water table is 3-4 feet higher than it is here in this picture and the reason that the waterfall is flowing so strongly. I would like to come back here when the temperatures are bitter cold for a week or two, well below freezing to check out the waterfall and see if it's frozen solid! Lol

My favorite picture of the day is this one, can you tell why?! Someone who's actually reading this and throws something out there might get something :D

What I love about this particular spot though is the awesome old architecture! This used to be an old saw mill way back in the day, where they used the water wheel to spin the saw blade to cut the logs. I think that's definitely some ingenuity! It's pretty common throughout the United States to see that type of stuff but it's great to see the buildings still intact. I don't know if it's open for tours or anything but at least they've taken the time to keep the building up and do some restoration work so that it will remain standing for another several decades!

The water here is beautiful though. This spot here is one that we didn't go and see previously because of the quantity of bugs that are here in the summer months, it becomes unbearable to walk in the area with my son since he's constantly getting attacked and swatting bugs away lol. I think we will give it a try this coming spring and summer though as it's good to try new spots for fishing and we will pack extra bug spray this time!

I love seeing the small waterfalls though and the jet outwards of the water that it presents. The only reason this whole area isn't frozen is because of that movement of water which is pretty cool! Eventually it will freeze up though because the temperatures have gotten quite cold since I took these pictures! I don't know if it would be completely frozen yet but it's certainly crusty around the shoreline and likely creeping towards the moving water.

Where the water is normally when we are here is visible on the wall there. The first rung of that small ladder on the left side of the picture is where the water level is. They have a giant metal plate that they put across the area to keep the water at that level. I don't know and would be interested to find out, if they crank it up and down to manage it or if they take it completely out of the water. If they take it out of the water that sounds like a big pain in the ass lol.