Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

It always takes me by surprise when one of my four adult children cites a song from back in the day. "Don't go chasing waterfalls," was our daughter's response to my text of  "Going in search of Roaring Brook wildlife management area's waterfalls. Will enter by way of the town forest on Huckle hill. If I don't text by say 3:00 reach out." Of course Kayden lives in San Diego which is three hours behind us, but as empty nesters it's still important to let someone know that you are going in.

Common sense doesn't always rule the day when your neighbor throws down a challenge like, "Have you been to the falls in Roaring Brook yet?" I could barley contain my coonhound's excitement when she sniffed the impending adventure.  I gave Wayne an hours notice to prepare. Wayne is a preparer and I'm a regreter in our adventuring partnership. We once hiked a full day on the rim of the Grand Canyon without water bottles because I insisted that we were just going to take a peek from the edge of the parking lot.  With some couple adventures only one partner is able to laugh about it years later.

Having hiked into the area before, I was of course confident that all of the excitement would be at the destination and not in the destination. The first sign of a challenge came with the discovery that while some of the trail was pond like and muddy as expected, other parts were smooth ice. "Navigating trails of ice with dogs on the end of long leads who insist on running in and out of scrub is more exciting and risky than playing Candy Crush Friends in the recliner on a Sunday afternoon" I kept telling myself rising to my feet over and over again. But then that was before the trail disappeared altogether.

Everybody likes to think that they can navigate themselves out of a situation and I do trust Wayne's instincts for the most part, and he was the one after all who thought to print a map .  Even so, I began to hang back a few paces to lay down big sticks in the form of arrows just in case. If you happen to come across them in your travels, go the other way it has to be much easier.

In the interest of not revealing all of the wonderful secrets in store for you on your own adventure into Roaring Brook I will stop here with three advisories: be wary of frozen earth covered with leaf litter on slopes, if you find the swamp at the top of the hill go to the left and finally, by all means go on chasing waterfalls! - Norma Manning

For the safety of wildlife we always keep our dogs on lead while hiking

I almost slid into the water taking this picture

Be prepared to cross over the brook several times

Sometimes we wish there was a sign letting us know we found the spot

We hope to see you on the trail sometime