My nephews and niece were up for some adventure during their New Year visit, and we found it at Cloudland Station. We hiked to Peacock Falls, a fairly easy hike, even for me.
The intrepid adventurers setting off.
After the recent rains, the creek was a rushing torrent. Most of the usual stepping stones were covered with water, but luckily there are log bridges for the few creek crossings.
We were rewarded by this sight of Peacock Falls' beauty.
It's bigger than it looks!
The trail to the cave goes straight up this steep hill. It, too, is bigger than it looks!
At the top we were able to look down onto the top of Peacock Falls.
The next part of the trail required multiple creek crossings. This was the trickiest one, but we made it across . . .
. . . two bounding across on their feet, one crawling on their knees, and one of us scootching across on our seat!
After a brisk hike, we arrived at Peacock Cave. There was plenty of cold water swirling in the cave entrance, but the intrepid explorers were not to be deterred.
Helmets and headlamps on, we headed into the cave. At first we had to bend over . . .
. . . but before long, we could stand up.
About that time we waded into the ankle-deep water, which wasn't as cold as we thought it would be. We could still see daylight behind us.
A little farther on, our only light was our headlamps and phones. The water was knee-deep with more up ahead as far as we could see, so we decided this was a good stopping place.
We didn't go very deep into the cave, but we had a great time. We agreed that we want to come back in the summer when there's less water and see how far we can get.
