Waterfalls Canyon Trip

Every day is a new adventure here in the Hole.  This weekend was no exception.  

Josh had a long weekend off work, so he headed to the lake to put around on the Wailer.  I had to work Wednesday until 8, so I told him I would meet him up there early Thursday morning. Wednesday night around 9 or 10, he calls (from the boat) to tell me to plan on backpacking, we're going to do Waterfalls Canyon, which sits between Eagle Rest Peak and Ranger Peak, just to the North of Mt. Moran.  "Okay!" I said cheerily and started repacking my pack for lightweight travel rather than luxury lake-side "boat camping."  

Thursday morning I get up early and head for the park.  Josh and Sherba were out fishing with another friend who works at Signal Mountain Lodge, so I told them to take their time, I was going to lie out.  I sat by the lake at Spalding Bay for about an hour or so, reading, catching a tan and just relaxing.  The boys came to get me, Sherba went home and Josh and I headed out to meet up with Pete and Abby, friends of Josh's, for our hike.  With "Team PBR" all accounted for, we crossed the lake to the base of the mountain to begin our hike.  (if you would like to follow along, click here in a new window and look for Mt. Moran- across from Colter Bay Village, head North a touch and locate Wilderness Falls... from there direct line towards Colter Bay was out route)

Here's a picture of our hike from about mid-way up.  The white stuff (snow) dead center of the picture is about where our camp site was.

Upon first glance, the worst part of the hike was going to be the change in elevation.  Jackson Lake sits at about 6500 feet, Columbine Cascade, where we camped is at 8,000 feet and Wilderness Falls is at 9,400.  Upon arriving at our "dock" we were swarmed with mosquitoes, so we high tailed it up the mountain and record speed.  Once we got out of the mosquito territory, we entered bushwhacking territory.  Eventually, though, we found some semi-flat ground and set up camp.  

We made dinner, drank a couple of PBRs and went to sleep.  The next morning, we woke up bright and early, packed up base camp and went for a day hike up to see Wilderness Falls. 

There was some climbing involved... 

Abby and I kept up with the boys for as long as we could, but we got to the top of Columbine Cascade and noticed that there was some class 4 scrambling that I was comfortable with going up, but knew I would not be so comfortable with on the down climb, so we decided to wait for them about a mile before Wilderness Falls.  I was bummed that I could not see it in person, but I sent Josh with my camera.   The entire time he was gone I was not sure if I was more nervous that he would fall, or drop my camera ;).

The boys came back, cameras in tow and we headed back down to base camp.  Downhill scrambling is super fun! You just get down low and crab crawl the whole way down.  My arms are SORE!! 

We did have a great view for the down-scramble though...

Once at base camp, we loaded up full packs and headed out, thinking this time we would go high and try and miss some of the brush and forest that we hit on the way in.  We found a game trail and cruised for the first mile or so and then hit some seriously THICK growth.  I was not sure if I was stepping on ground or bushes, all the while holding onto poor saplings and bushes trying to keep from tumbling down the side of the mountain.  I will spare you the details of my minor mid-(non)trail breakdown and skip to the end... we made it! Down through the thick, through the thin, through the burn area, through the SWARMS of mosquitoes and to the BOAT!!!

We coined the term "Reverse Normandy," stormed the boat and took off at full throttle (about 8 miles an hour) headed for Leek's Marina- we desperately deserved pizza and beer after that one! 

by the way, although I HIGHLY recommend Chacos for hiking on trails in the summer time, I do not recommend hiking in Chacos when you are off trail...

Well there you have it, my Epic adventure up Waterfalls Canyon.  And as a side note, today Josh and I ran into an old friend of his, who claimed that he attempted the same hike and turned back.  SO, I am feeling VERY accomplished and proud of my physical and mental ability to climb mountains!  

PEACE!!

Tricia

I am a Woman of Words...

I assure you! There is a whole lot more to the Africa trip than pictures. I am working on finding the perfect words. But just to hold you over I'll tell you about the most amazing part of the trip:

We arrived at the Samburu Game Reserve in central Kenya on May 13 or 14th (looking for my travel journal with the exact dates) The trip was set up so that we had the same guides for the whole trip, Joshua and David. The game parks that we were visiting were pretty far from each other, so on travel days Joshua and David set out ahead of us in the Land Rovers and we flew a Caravan Flight with Martin (the coolest pilot in the world).  So, when we arrived at the Samburu airstrip, we had surrogate guides for the afternoon.  Gladwell was our guide for the afternoon on this particular day.  He picks us up from the airstrip and tells us how sad he is that the river (that runs through camp) is dry, and has been since December.  With a dry river bed, things can be dangerous for the animals.  Elephants are okay, because they can dig holes for their water, but the other members of the African Animal Community are pretty SOL. This was saddening news to hear, because May is supposed to be the rainy season for Kenya.  The Climate Crisis coupled with humans moving into the bush and tapping the water systems upstream for their own use is slowly killing off a lot of indigenous wildlife.  Gladwell assures us that the Game Reserve and the individual camps are doing their best to provide water for the animals.  We get to camp and try to make light of the lunch by the (non)river and our (non)waterfront views from our tents.  We were having an afternoon cocktail at the bar near the (non)river when out of nowhere this Land Rover comes screeching in...

"The river is coming!!"  he says waving about wildly, camera in tow, "we followed it all the way down here, there's a wall of water!"

Puzzled, we all looked at each other for a split second and then raced to the river bed, cameras in tow as well.  We looked towards what would be up river and sure enough, a flash flood! It had been raining up in the mountains for the past couple of days and the water had just made it down to the flats.  

I had seen such a thing on the Discovery Channel, but I always thought it was a time laps camera, I can tell you, if it is time lapsed, it's not by much! It took all of fifteen minutes for this river bed, dry and cracked, to become a river. The Uaso Nyiro River, meaning Red River, or Muddy River, is never blue... but it sure is a beautiful sight to see!

Nature sure is an amazing thing! 

(I did get this on video- when I get the final product made I'll share it with you guys)

That being said, it's soap box time for a second: The Earth has the ability to and will repair herself from all the damage humans and her other inhabitants have done.  Mother Earth is a powerful being and she loves her children, however, if we don't take care of her, she's going to kick us out! So please please please, when traveling especially, respect the Earth, do what you can to make up for carbon emissions and waste you have created. Reduce what you use, Reuse what you can and Recycle everything else! I would love for my grandchildren to be able to see such a sight one day, and I know you wish the same for your offspring and future offspring.