I've been to Dupont State Forest many times. It has great waterfalls, several lakes and a couple of mountain tops. But I've never been there in the summer. Dupont is a cool-weather destination for us.

But on Sunday, one of the hottest days ever, Lenny and I went to check out a grandchildren-friendly hike at Dupont. Grandchildren-friendly includes several factors:

*  Fun for the 8-year old. Swimming will be fun.

*  A safe place for the 22-month old to run around

*  And most important, easy-enough terrain for our son to carry that 22-month old.

Because we've only been there in the fall or winter, we've never really thought of where we could swim. We headed out to Lake Julia and stopped at Lake Dense. We dismissed Lake Dense because the water got too deep too fast. But Lake Julia had great possibilities.

We walked past the long staircase to the picnic tables. This is where two houses remain from the housing development days.

The clubhouse is falling apart. Look at the roof. What a shame. This building could have been a great training center or a hostel. It had lots of potential. Instead the State is letting it rot. Well, they can't mess up the lake, I hope.

Going back, we took the trail to High Falls. Going down High Falls is traitorous. It's slippery and rocky and I can't see our son carrying a heavy load on his back. Besides, on a hot day, it's filled with people who can't control their dogs and sometimes themselves. So we crossed that off our list.

But the bottom of Triple Falls was great. See the picture on top. You can wade, and even swim a little. It's not that difficult to go down and back up from a side trail off of Triple Falls Trail. The Forest is making some improvements where it will even easier.

Right now a security guard is guarding the entrance to the bottom of Triple Falls. It's a shame that the Forest is so poorly funded that they have to hire temporary private security, rather than having rangers.

But the easiest was Hooker Falls. The parking area was overflowing. It was like Coney Island. People had brought coolers, beach chairs, dogs and even a kayak. They were having a ball.

After considering all the options, we'll probably take them to Lake Julia and back, drive to Hooker Falls parking and walk to the Falls.

But the way we did it, we had to walk back on the road back to our cars. It was hot!