A Little Closer To Heaven

 

Sara and I took a dayhike that we’ve taken many times in the past over the weekend. It’s a very rugged 5 mile round trip hike to one of the tallest waterfalls in the United States, Hemmed-In Hollow. Now, 5 miles does not sound very difficult, but I assure you…with about a thousand feet of elevation gain in 2.5 miles on the return, it can cramp even the most athletic of hiker’s style. The path is narrow and steep. Plus, it’s very uneven and full of rocks to stub your toes on or twist an ankle.

The weather forecast said there was a 20% chance of rain. No big deal..except it should have been 100% because it rained the entire time we hiked. This made it a little more difficult because the rocks were very slippery. It was a normal hike on the way down. No problems, no slips, not too difficult. It started pouring on us when we got to the falls, so we crawled into the small cave beneath the falls and sat down for some lunch. I scarfed down a Snicker’s marathon bar and Sara had an apple. I took a few pictures (from inside the cave because I wasn’t about to ruin my camera), and we left.

The rain paused for a little while on the way back and though I wasn’t able to snap any pictures of the falls at Hemmed-In, I did get to practice my technique on a smaller falls along the trail. What do ya think?

The hike back was very difficult and slippery. I was winded from all of the junk food that I still haven’t worked off since the holidays and it just wasn’t pretty. The trail let me know just how out of shape I really am. I did get to test some rain gear out that worked very well and I’ll be able to report on some of those things pretty soon, too.

Stay tuned tomorrow for another top ten list.

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