Burgess Falls (a.k.a. where we almost fell down a cliff and died)

Photography disclaimer: I was CRAZY to bring my big girl camera to this place. Partially because I was in fear for not only my life, but for the life of my camera and phone. Also because there was no way to adequately capture how beautiful this was. It was dark, dark, and green/yellow in the shade; bright and brown in the sun. I decided to not spend time editing so I know these are inconsistent. I know; no one cares. Just me.

And try to imagine the deafening sound of the water.

We had planned a trip to Burgess Falls last summer and it never happened for some reason. I was determined to go this year, and I'm so glad we did. It's about a 2-hour drive from Clarksville. We managed to choose one of the hottest days of the summer, and I had NO idea that the website really did mean that whole "very strenuous" label they put on the hike down to the falls. 

The views were beautiful, the lookout was amazing. The very, very steep hike (with no trail, just crazy rocks) down to the falls where you could swim was insane. I'm not sure I've ever been so scared in my life. The kids weren't scared at all. In fact, Camden kept reaching out to steady me and kept telling me "I've got you." All I could think about was that I would totally take him down if I stumbled and he tried to "get me."

Brian and the kids did a little swimming in some very cold water under the falls, and we stayed for probably an hour. I was nervous about the hike back up to the top, but it wasn't nearly as treacherous going back up. About halfway up, my whole body started shaking, sweat pouring off me. I thought I was going to vomit, pass out, have a heart attack, etc. I also knew there was no way to get out of there but to keep going!

It was a fantastic, adventurous, exhilerating family day. I can say that since we all made it out alive. :)

Did I mention I wore FLIP FLOPS? What in the world was I thinking?

Notice all the sweat already? This was before the hard part.

Those teeny tiny specks in the water? People swimming.

This is where I should have started getting nervous.

This picture cracks me up because Brian face? It's when he realizes how we're going to get down to the water.

There are no pictures on the way down, because, you know, fighting for my life.

Towards the bottom.

But, oh, the water and the falls and the view. Totally worth the risk. 

Now that I'm safely back at home anyway.

Waving to Brian under the falls.

Then he came back and got them both and took them under the falls.

the flip flops

A small glimpse into the non-trail we had to take to get back to the top.

Another family took our picture back at the top.

Seriously, I was so hot and sweaty. After freezing their tails off in the water, they hardly sweated on the way back up at all. Clearly, I should have gotten in the water!

We stopped for ice cream, of course, and had milkshakes made with fresh whole milk straight from the farm.

Let's just say this sign was totally true - the cashier was VERY anti-customer service.

And a little video to give you a little taste. Beautiful, right?

I would completely go back to visit Burgess Falls. After the kids are teenagers. And we have proper hiking gear. Something besides flip flops anyway.