We arrived at the park and went to the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center and got our customary hiking medallions. The main reason for our visit to the park was to do a rigorous 4 mile hike that lead to a natural waterfall which you could siide down. The hike was BRUTAL! We finally arrived to the waterslide and was truly cool. Although we were worn down from the walk, we got the energy to climb to the top of the slippery rock to go down the slide.

The teens had arrived at the slide prior to us and had already gone down a few times. We arrived and Trevor grabbed Brody and went down the slidey. We quickly learned that the bottom of the slide was an ice bath!. I swear it was freezing cold, and that was after a long hike to get there. Since all the kids had gone, it was time for mom and I t take our turns. Surprisingly it was really fast, and unpredictable since it really wasn’t meant for sliding down.

After enjoying the slide for an hour or so (video), we began the rigorous uphill hike back to the trail head. This trail (if you want to call it that) was full of rocks, tree roots, and most of it was wet from the water nearby. I swear there are times on the way back that I wasn’t sure I was going to make it! About half way through the hike back, Tess screamed really loud. I sort of ignored it as she cries wolf too often. We looked down and right next to mom’s foot was a Snake!

Heather and I let the teens go ahead of us and we arrived back at the van about 35 min after them. We periodically saw hikers and asked them if they had seen the 2 blondes and the skinny tall kid and we kept hearing yes, so we knew they were fine. We finally made it back to the van and everyone spent a good 30 minutes or so re-hydrating. We then drove around Skyline drive some more and stopped for a snack at SkyLand. We then headed back to the hotel for the night.