And then there were three...it was a small and quiet campfire as the cold returned with a vengeance.  We didn't stay up too long, burrowing deep in our sleeping bags.  Over the morning's coffee we pondered our next move - today was our travel day, but perhaps we could herp somewhere along the way home.  Marty suggested Jackson Falls over to the east, a place he had camped at on previous occasions.  We broke camp and headed over that way.

Jackson Falls turned out to be a really beautiful place of water-carved canyons and wooded bluffs.  Some of the spots put us in mind of scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring, Amon Hen in particular (where Boromir perishes).  We turned up several Slimy Salamanders under logs as we hiked along one of the trails, and near a cool, ferny seep at the bottom of a bluff we found a number of Spring Peepers.  Most of the ground we covered was very dry away from water, due to an extended dry spell this fall.

As we hiked along, we ran into a party of rock climbers up from Louisville, Kentucky.  One of their party was up on a bluff face, making a belayed ascent.  We watched him reach the top and then rappel back down to where we were standing.  The leader of the group turned to us - did we want to have a go at it?  Who?  Us?  One by one, we stepped into the body harness and attempted to hand-climb the category five rock face.  Marty and Tracey worked very hard and managed to reach the top, and triumphantly rappelled back down.  I'd like to claim I made it all the way up, but my arms couldn't pull my somewhat (ahem) larger frame over a particularly difficult spot.  I was disappointed, but we were all exhilarated by the experience, one we would all like to try again sometime.  Right friendly folks, those climbers.

That marked the end of our fall trip to the Shawnee Forest.  It was time for us to turn around and hike back out to the car and begin the trip home.  Jackson Falls is a beautiful place and I'm sure we'll return there again sometime.  Maybe we'll do a little rock climbing too!