June Sweeps - Day 135

I don't know where the day went.  It's two am and I haven't even started my blogging yet.  Do I even want to?

(guess I didn't, because it's the next day and I still haven't done this)

Surprisingly, since I was sunburned and tired from hiking in the mountains yesterday, I decided to go on a hike today as well.  I was in a nearby town, grabbing something to eat, and I thought about something my friend Rhett said yesterday, about there being a waterfall in the hills near there.  I asked my phone to guide me, and it said I was six minutes away.  So I decided to go, despite wearing the slippery non-hiking shoes I had had on the day I found the cellphone, and slipped multiple times descending another waterfall.

This was a fairly easy climb, and there were tons of people there (indeed, in the five minutes that it took me to empty out my backpack and stick a bottled water in there--as well as the requisite Yo Gabba Gabba character--I saw thirty or so people come down the trail and hit their cars), including people with babies.*

The main destination was a little waterfall, coming down through a narrow gap between two mountains, and there was a hiking trail that went, according to the signs, for miles up and up and up, with even smaller waterfalls every quarter mile or so (maybe even closer together than that).

It was not spectacular, and there was very little majesty or beauty to take pictures of (that's why I need you to come with me next time), but I was glad I went, because, hey, life experience, and hey hey, more exercise, and hey hey hey hey, don't you forget about me, when you walk on by.

To get an interesting shot I did one of those stupid, irresponsible things that are always getting photographers killed: I climbed out on the edge of the cliff and stuck my phone over the edge (on a stick) to look down, all the while aware that, if I fell, no one would end up seeing the spectacular footage because the water would ruin the phone.  But I didn't fall, darn it, so here you are:

There were metal rings embedded into the rock next to the main waterfall, and as I was coming down, I saw an instructor and a young woman getting ready to rappel off it.  So, I just walked over to the side of the hill and sat down, watching them work.  Surprisingly, the man got the girl in the harness, made sure everything was secure, and then stood there and watched, letting the woman do all the work at her own pace.  I wondered if that was because of COVID, or if it was because of the stigma of putting her hands all over a young, athletic woman.  Once she had gotten down more than halfway, I hiked down to the base of the waterfall, where there were tons of people congregated, some splashing around in the ice cold water, some just hanging out and enjoying the view, and some watching the girl rappel down (am I spelling that right?).

Not particularly deep (like my stories)

Sure enough, she made it down just as I reached the water, and then her instructor practically jumped off the ledge, sliding down the whole way in probably four or five seconds.  He helped unstrap her, and I decided to stick my head under the waterfall, just to see why the kids that were running around kept doing it.  It was as cold as you can imagine, but it felt alright, considering I'd been hiking for an hour on a hot, sunny day.

At one point, I did take my shoes and socks off and stick my feet in the stream, but it was so cold it was more like torture than anything you'd do by choice.

This one's for the ladies...

Whenever I do one of these hikes, I take my phone with me, to listen to music with and take pictures, and I only have the one playlist on the phone (made up of mostly fast-paced songs for me to jog to), but I have to admit that, after listening to the same thirty or so songs for the past few months, it might be time to delete most of them and load some new ones.  Can't do it now, though.

Sit-ups Today: 111 (I like that number)

Sit-ups In June: 1723

Words Today: 1074
Words In June: 13,531

*Which shouldn't be surprising--this seems to be the world capital for babies--but I don't think I would ever take an infant mountain-climbing or waterfall hiking.