Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Boyz Trip 6

Our camp-neighbors had told us that there was a way to hike up to the left of this waterfall and get to the ridge that ran above our camp, where there were some great views.



So Matt, Smitty and I crashed through some undergrowth and climbed up next to the waterfall. Here's Matt and I alongside it:



And Matt standing near the top of the falls:



We continued on up to the top of the ridge, where the views were indeed incredible - every way you turned, there were breathtaking views. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves here:









Those last three are part of a panorama that, for some reason, I wasn't able to stitch together. Here's one more, with me in it:



Anyway, we started to hike back down to camp, and to avoid some of the annoying crashing through trees, we skirted a little closer to the river. At one point, we rounded a big rock right next to the river, and I stopped to take this picture of Matt:



After I took the picture, I put the camera back in my pocket and turned around. It looked a little slippery right in front of me, so I stepped beyond what I thought was the slippery part. Apparently I didn't make it quite far enough, because I slipped and went right into the river. Didn't hit any rocks; I went right into a deep part - in fact, it was over my head. When I came up, the first thing I saw was my hat floating in front of me, so I grabbed it. The second thing I saw was a big rock at the side of the river, so I grabbed it and pulled myself out. That's when I realized how close to the top of the falls I had been - about 15 yards. (A trip over those falls probably wouldn't have killed me, but definitely would have broken a few things...) Matt and Smitty picked their way over the slippery section and came to where I was standing - My heart was racing fast enough that I wasn't cold at all. Anyway, we continued down, pumped some water for dinner, and headed back to camp, where I changed into dry clothes.

More later...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The description of your slip caused a hot flash of adreneline; was that when you lost your rign?

SnowLeopard said...

These pictures are awesome! you weren't cold even after you got out and your heart stopped racing? That water looks pretty chilly, with ice chunks floating in it and all...

Turi Becker said...

No, I had noticed that morning that my ring was lost. My forearm was hurting, and I think I shook my hand out and the ring fell off then.

No, for whatever reason, I didn't get cold. Obviously, the water with ice chunks different than the water above the falls, but the river water was snowmelt too. It was a sunny day; maybe that helped to keep me warm...