By Carol Cain

September 26, 2012

One of things that I have enjoyed the most about blogging since I started was sharing what I discovered in my everyday life with my kids. Somehow, I lost a little bit of this – the joy of the everyday discoveries. Granted, it has been because we’ve traveled to places further away, but there is something so nice still for me in the adventures closer to home because these are the ones we can do over and over without too much demand on our time or budget.

Today was such a day, with the kids home from school I needed to get them outside. Lucky for us we live less than 5 minutes from the beautiful South Mountain Reservation and often go there for walks. But till now, we’ve discovered but a small tidbit of this over 2,000 acre wooded area. Today, I decided we would find Hemlock Falls, the often talked about waterfall of the reservation.

Everyone knows about it, but few know how to get to it – well, few who have lived here for such a short time as we have. So I looked up the map, got the boys ready, and out we went.

The entrance was way easier to find than I expected, and I had driven past it several times, but because it is next to an underpass along South Orange Avenue, and not really marked with any signs, it’s easy to miss.

It’s a perfect time to go hiking in the reservation. The leaves are falling and changing colors, the weather is not too hot, nor too cold, and on a weekday, there weren’t too many hikers around.

This article originally appeared on Girl Gone Travel on September 26, 2012. You can read the full story here.