We had a busy weekend! We took a day trip down to my sister-in-law’s house for a birthday party for my nephew. Did some shopping, spent way to much time in a car– fun times.
It actually was a lot of fun! The cake was amazing. Hunter got to hang out and celebrate with his same day birthday bud.
But I wanted to go hiking. We didn’t make any stops on the way home so yesterday we decided to go to Smith Falls State Park. It’s a little further east of Valentine than my usual stomping grounds at Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge.
It’s a gem– hybrid aspen that only occur at Smith Falls, tallest waterfall in Nebraska, and a pretty campground along the river.
**Side note I just realized I haven’t gone camping this year yet. Dammit.**
It was a late afternoon hike. Hunter had his nap and was ready to explore!
Momma, found out that she really needs to start just walking the dogs while carrying the little man because I was out of breath barely moving.
We didn’t take the full MacAllister Trail which goes up by the aspens but we still had a fun trip. But it was a bit of a trip getting out. Wade and I both were grumpy with each other, not a big fight or anything just general grumpiness. He did get a little mad at Freya because she was so excited to go outside that she kind of pulled him into the door frame. Little puppy, big muscles. Once we were out walking though the grumpiness and stress went away. Freya burned off most of her abundance of energy. Although, I was nice and didn’t take a bunch of pictures of my favorite guy like I would normally do since he doesn’t like it most of the time.
Waterfalls, river, and dogs– plus a few selfies. That’s it.
I’ve talked about Smith Falls before, so I won’t go into great detail about how amazing the location can be for folks. Ecosystems comingle, water and rock come together, and it’s just a relaxing place.
Check it out on your next visit to Valentine or Nebraska!
Keep wandering,
BJ
The Wannabe Backpacker 