Turner Falls

I've been missing hiking and waterfalls and outdoor adventures, especially with the weather getting nicer. There are plenty of cool adventure places in Texas, but almost all of them are about four hours away from us... too much for a day trip with babes! After some intense investigation, I learned of Turner Falls in Oklahoma- only a two hour drive from Dallas! I'm so grateful Kali and Kinley were up for the adventure too!
When we pulled in to the park, the ranger told us that the main waterfall (Turner Falls) was closed due to road reconstruction. We were super bummed but decided to venture in anyways because the drive had already been made. I'm surprised how much fun we had without even going to the main waterfall!
First we "hiked" to a little cave. Hiking here basically means going on a walk surrounded by plants. It's better than nothing! It was kind of funny that no one (not even the rangers) could tell us how long the hike to the cave was. We kept asking because we wanted to know if we could make it with our littles. "How long is the hike? Is it steep? Should we pack my 2 yo or let him walk? How long does it take to get to the cave?" Everyone answered like "It's not too far, maybe a mile. It's a little hard but I bet they could do it. The rocks by the water might be too dangerous." K people, it was like a quarter mile walk to the cave and another .1 miles to the water. It was a little sketchy climbing down the rocks to the water with our kids in tow, but doable. 

 Owen was so scared to crawl in this cave! For a minute I didn't think we'd ever get him in. I didn't want to terrorize him by pushing him too hard, but I knew he'd love it once he figured out it was safe, so we kept trying. Once he finally crawled in and out, he wanted to do it 100 more times. He talked about this "kiv" for the next three days straight!

Like I mentioned, getting down to the water was a little tricky just because there wasn't an actual trail. It would be no problem without kids, but we had to be super careful while carrying the babes. Once we were down, it was perfect! The river wasn't rushing and raging, so I wasn't worried about Owen getting swept away or anything. He loved touching the water and climbing all over the rocks.

When the weather is warmer, they dam up the bottom of the falls so that people can jump in and swim. We'll definitely be coming back to see the real falls and swim in the pools. Who knew Oklahoma had these kinds of gems?!