Cascade Falls, Buzzards Rock, and a Sister Hike

My little sister is the coolest. She's amazingly creative, fun to be around, and one of the most beautiful people that I know - inside and out. And she loves to hike! Earlier this week, we took a sister hike over at Patapsco State Park. We decided to see if we could hike from Cascade Falls trail head on Landing Road over to Buzzards Rock trail head on Hilltop Road. It took a little coordination with cars, but it was really fun!

To see our trail guide visit my EveryTrail page.

When we hiked this it was still only a couple days after last weekend's storm. There were a few trees down along the trail. Mostly all of the smaller debris had been cleaned up. The trees were just waiting for a chain saw.

Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy 

Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy

Amazing how big strong trees can snap like twigs in high winds, isn't it? After we played Limbo with the trees, we crossed the stream several times until we came to the name sake of the trail: Cascade Falls.

Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy

Stream along the trail 

Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy

Cascade Falls

I love this little pool. It's perfect to wade in and cool off on a hot summer day, or just to cool your feet after being in your hiking boots! As you can see, Sprocket is loving it =]

When you get to the falls, you cross over the stream on the rocks to follow the trail. Be careful! The rocks can be very slippery! We had to help the puppies across because they were scared to jump across the rocks.

When you get to the second trail head, you can either continue to the left on Cascade or you can be crazy like Littlest Cloudy and I and go down towards the road and across the Swinging Bridge towards Grist Mill trail.

 Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy

 Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy

On the other side of the bridge you follow Grist Mill trail to the left until you come across a small tunnel with a stream running through it. Go through the tunnel (it's not scary, I promise!) and Buzzards Rock is immediately on the left. The butt buster part. YES! Tone those glutes!

Buzzards Rock has become one of my favorite short hikes. The loop is only a couple miles long, so you can loop it a couple times or you can combine it with other trails (like we did). Its a moderate to difficult hike in parts, but it works all those.. chocolate donuts.. off your butt.. I know, you would never eat those awful things. Me neither.. honest.. (Ok! So I like my donuts!)

If you're following along with our trail guide, you can see that we stopped at the parking lot on Hilltop Road. If you want to challenge yourself more, you could easily continue on Buzzards Rock until it meets Grist Mill trail where you'd take it to the left if you're having a good time, take it to the right if you want it to feel fine.. Oh sorry (I don't listen to the Spice Girls, what are you talking about?)! Take a left on Grist Mill and follow it up to the Swinging Bridge, then cross the road back to Cascade Falls which you'd take the loop on the right and eventually make it back to your car on Landing Road! Crazy, right? That would make this hike about 5 miles.

Littlest Cloudy and I were walking this trail quickly because dark was rapidly approaching, so it only took us about an hour. I can honestly say though that when I have more time I'm going back and hiking the full loop. 

On a different note, Mid-Atlantic Off Road Enthusiasts are doing some awesome work with trail clean up from the Derecho! If you have some time to help them, check out their calendar to see when you can help out! Taking care of our trails is really important, and these guys are doing a great service to all of us who enjoy them!

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Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! I'd love to hear from you in the comments section! You can like me on Facebook and follow me by email at the top of the left hand navigation bar by simply entering your email address. Happy Trails!