Cascades du Herisson with Kelly

Wed, July 7, 2010

Ever since we first visited the Cascades du Herisson, we have wanted to return.    We decided to take our favorite tutor and friend, Kelly, there for a visit.  She is an American in Besancon for this year to teach English to French students and is leaving at the end of July.  She has her own excellent blog at www.quellequellebelle.blogspot.com.

Anyway, we once again got a bit lost getting there… we passed through Pontarlier and had to stop for directions a couple of times before we finally figured it out.  I note here that getting lost with Kelly is far less stressful than getting lost with André!  We finally got there and were instantly rewarded by sights of ingrown road signs and cool fresh water…  We were all starving so, as soon as the Eventail (the first big waterfall) was in sight, we stopped to eat!

 

Then, of course, it was time to play around in the water!  Kelly’s shades look great on Callie!

We eventually soldiered onwards towards the Eventail and then mounted the stairs to get to the top of it.

Kelly has an injured foot, so we just hung out at the next small waterfall for the next hour or so, building dams and playing around.  Zander was crushed we weren’t going to go back to Le Couer Bleu (his favorite from the last time) but he eventually got over it and joined in the dam-building fun.  I’m not sure how Kelly felt about this stuff, but she joined in with enthusiasm!  Zander insisted we leave our name in rocks at the dam site – this is becoming a tradition!

We hopped back in the car to drive up to the top of the trail. It seems we could get there if we just went on the roads about 10km and stopped at a place called “Fromagerie”. Kelly has never been to a fromagerie so I thought it would be a perfect stop.   We got there just fine – but then discovered there wasn’t really a fromagerie at all.  Just some souvenir shops – why the place is called Fromagerie is beyond me!

That’s OK though, we  parked and walked the path for the highest waterfall.  We didn’t make it this far the last time we came and it was fun to see something new.  We splashed around there for another hour or so before heading back to the car.  Kelly and I even stood under the waterfall (photo courtesy Zander).  I wonder why it is so scary to stand under a waterfall – I mean, it is really no different than a giant cold shower!

 

We headed back to the car. On the way, Griffin found a special rock he wanted to bring home with him.  I said no, but suggested taking a photo so we could always remember – he is showing off the best angle at right.  I also took a shot of an old stone wall – they are everywhere in the Franche Comte and so beautiful! 

He also picked Kelly a bouquet and I taught her a bit of my (limited) wildflower knowledge.  We stopped at an overlook for the local lake as well.  In the photo below, you can see the lake looks sort of normal, beautiful, but nothing special.  But this lake is not normal people!  It is a bizarre shade of teal – and was the same shade when we visited the last time.  We even pulled over to ask some locals WHY it was this color.  They said it was because it was a beautiful day – but I’m thinking there is more to the story than that – what, I don’t know!

 

So stopping for dinner at the same place we did the last  time. It was no where near as good as I remembered.  Is it because I have more refined  tastes or because there are different cooks?  The dessert, however, was delicious!  Thanks for coming along Kelly!