Hanging Rock in the fog

For the last several weeks, I've wanted to take the kids hiking at Hanging Rock State Park. Unfortunately, the weather and schedules have been incompatible until this weekend. For most of the week, the weather forecast for today was 80 and sunny; a forecast very agreeable for hiking around waterfalls into which kids will undoubtably want to dip their toes. When the weekend finally arrived, the forecast was more like 65 and partly cloudy. It's not 80 and sunny, but I can work with that, so we planned for a pleasant, if cooler, hike.

When this morning dawned, my first glimpse outside was a pillow of thick white fog. Uh oh. I knew we would have 4 unhappy kids this morning if we had to cancel on account of the fog. A quick check of the weather channel online told me that the fog was supposed to clear by 10 am and the temperature be close to 60.

Hmmm...so we arrived at the park.

9:50 am

Fog: still thick

Temperature: 45°

Fortunately, the brisk hike kept us warm, and the fog waned slightly by the time we finished. I don't think the weather tempered the kids' enjoyment of the hike, although the fog certainly inhibited my ability to capture some of the photos I would have liked to take. For every curse there is a blessing, I guess. Since the sweeping views of the mountainside were blocked, we were more focused on the spring blooming directly in front of us. The spring rain, the cheeky buds, the vibrant green moss, dew-lit spider webs. I must say that this was a unique hike and very blessed in it's own foggy way.