I love trying out a new trail, but I also get anxiety about it and find myself very resistant to the idea often times. What if I get lost? What if it's too hard?

Well, I have gotten lost (and I did get lost on this hike lol), and I have always been able to do finish, no matter how hard it's been. 

And when I get lost (which is often), it always makes for a great story after.

Well this hike has been on my list for awhile, so when a friend reached out and wanted to try a new trail, I knew this was our day to try the Grotto!

It's a fairly easy trail. I'm definitely taking my kids next time! They are going to love it! The beginning of the trail is steep, so keep an eye on littles, but the rest of the trail was pretty average and ends in a beautiful green dripping Grotto down in the canyon. The perfect place to cool off.

This hike also leads to a waterfall. Its .8 miles after the Grotto and it's literally straight up the mountainside! There were mile markers every few yards, so we knew we were on the trail, otherwise we would have been totally lost. When we reached the river, it was snowed over. So we weren't sure exactly where the waterfall was. But we got a few commemorative photos as one should after such a hike. Then we hiked back to the main trail to the Grotto. 

The waterfall wasn't worth it, just because it was a literal level 9 elevation on a treadmill. Killed us. If the waterfall had been epic, then maybe I would recommend this portion of the hike. But seriously, the Grotto was incredible, and that was enough for us. No need to kill yourself over another waterfall. 

Another reason I started this blog, directions. I swear I get lost every time I try a new hike. All trails is an amazing source, but it's just bits and pieces. It said to cross the river and follow up stream. So we did that, but the trail quickly ended about 10 ft in and we ended up scaling the mountain to reach the real trail. 

Detailed directions below, but follow these photos for visual points.

Here I am, scaling a shear cliff to find the trail.

After you cross the river, you will see this sign high up on the hill about 20-30 ft after the river. Then you'll see these stairs. This is the trail head. After that, the trail is clearly marked.

We love waterfalls so decided to head left at this point. This is also the point that we began to question why we would ever have chosen to do this. It was HARD, straight up, and the trail was dodgy. Not worth it in my opinion, and I would never take kids. 

The right trail was definitely kid friendly and amazingly worth it.

THIS is the left trail so you adventurous spirits can tackle it if you want to.

Soda cans for trail markers.

Cougar prints?

Up up up! This trail was literally straight up the mountain and the trail was very hard to follow. Luckily there were soda cans nailed to trees to help us stay on track.

Ok, this view from the top was worth it tho.

Grotto Trail

Now, if you go back there is a turn off for the grotto from the other side of the river so you don't have to trek all the way back to the fork.

Lots of ropes to assist along the trail.

Grotto Waterfall challenge.

You better believe we did our first waterfall challenge of 2021! Besides, we heard you can reset your neurons by standing under a waterfall, so of course we had to try it.

So maybe it's just the fear of the unknown?  I like familiarity. I think we all do. 

Happy Hiking!

Be sure to tag @saltproject.co on your adventures so we can share. 

xo