We decided to get up early and we’re immediately rewarded with a beautiful sunrise and a moose and a bear.
We parked at the Sun Point Nature Trail and hiked down to the point and then around to Baring Falls. Just beyond Baring Falls is a boat dock which gave us a great opportunity to check out the clear lake and see some fish.
Continuing, we had some elevation changes and a pretty rocky path. We didn’t feel that we needed trekking poles in August however, sturdy boots, bug spray, sunscreen, plenty of water and bear spray were a must for us.
St. Mary Falls is a spectacular double waterfall into a gorgeous blue pool of water. We heard a rumor that people like to jump into the water on the other side of the bridge. It looks deep enough but I can’t say that I would recommend it.
In the .8 miles beyond St. Mary Falls and before Virginia Falls are 3 unnamed waterfalls. The first cascades down multiple levels and I highly recommend rock scrambling down to the bottom to get an amazing view. The second unnamed waterfall has a couple of cascades into a narrow chute ending in a deep pool before heading on down the river. The third unnamed waterfall is tall and runs narrowly through the rocks.
We finally made it to our big reward, Virginia Falls. When you know, you know! This waterfall is supposedly only 50 feet tall, but after dropping to a large pool the water splits and part of it continues to cascade and the other half turns and runs through a narrow shoot before meeting back up with the river. There are multiple viewing areas from the river, middle, and base of the falls. As usual we traded photo opportunities with strangers and marveled together at God‘s amazing creation. From the top of the falls you feel a cool artic mist that was welcome after our hike.
On our way back we hiked the one and a half miles to the St. Mary Falls shuttle stop and took the shuttle to the Sun Point shuttle stop to grab our car and head back to the camper for lunch. With all our morning hiking combined we logged a total of 5.5 miles.
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