Hiking - Bell Smith Springs

 Bell Smith Springs, Shawnee National Forest 2.2 miles, 1 hour 12 minutes

As we were driving to Garden of the Gods, I saw this sign to Bell Smith Springs. I looked it up online and saw reviews of a wonderful hike. I was lucky to get online as connections are spotty here. The drive to the trailhead was 9 miles over a narrow, winding and rocky road filled with potholes. At the trailhead, we met a couple and the man asked if we were hiking. He told us a bit about the trail and cautioned us to be careful. His wife had slipped on one of the rocks and fell into the creek. Her clothes were draped all over the car. I was a bit apprehensive about this Creek seeing that all of her clothes were drying. Nevertheless, we started our hike on the yellow trail. There are wooden steps down to another set of rock steps. (You know what that means - a hike uphill at the end!) And there was the creek with a path of rocks to cross. We watched a family of 4 come back towards us. They were cautious, but all made it. My courage returned. It wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. 😊 The water here is absolutely beautiful with the azure color seen in the Caribbean. There are several huge boulders in the water that make perfect reflections in the water. After taking photos and enjoying the view, we climbed another set of rock steps up the other bank. To the left of these steps is the natural bridge, but we didn’t realize it until we got to the top. The trail at the top follows the cliff above the creek with views at times of the creek below. We saw a ravine which was at the natural bridge. After walking along, we headed down and followed a trail close to the creek. This led us to the natural bridge and we then realized, we had walked by it at the start of our hike. This was an absolutely, beautiful hike and well worth the rocky drive off our path!