Chasing Waterfalls and Making Burgers

We purchased a new toy for camping, a Biolite Camp Stove and Grill-top. We were excited to try out our new toy; but before we did, we headed off to chase waterfalls at our new favorite campground, Arroyo Seco. Yes, we were just there less than a month ago, but we enjoyed our stay at this pretty spot that we decided to head back before the warm-weather campers make it difficult to reserve a spot at the campground. Plus, it was Spring Break for our college son, and we thought he would enjoy seeing the waterfalls and hiking the region.

So, off the three of us went to hike closer to that waterfall my husband and I tried to hike to on our last trip. This time we brought with us water shoes for crossing the Santa Lucia Creek.

This time the water level was higher due to the rains the previous week.

We had to cross the creek twice to get closer to the falls...

And do a lot of bouldering to make it to this little island in the creek just below the falls. Doggy wasn't happy with the wading across the creek-she isn't a water dog.

A couple of smaller falls were running. We saw a newt trying to run for cover while we hiked through his lush, green habitat. He was too bashful to pose for a photo; so, my son posed.

The seven mile round trip hike took us by a hut that was used by rangers in the 1920s.

Swimming holes along the Arroyo Seco river can been seen from the trail we hiked along. The weather was warm enough for a swim that day, but we wanted to get back to camp to set up the Biolite grill camp stove.

I collected twigs, while husband looked after the burgers. Surprisingly, not a huge pile of twigs and sticks were needed. I only needed to pick up the fallen sticks around our site; which wasn't too much, but more than the amount in the photo.

The first batch of burgers were so yummy! We were so happy with the performance of the stove and grill top that I cooked the last two burgers as the sun was quickly setting.