When I woke up to over 4 inches of snow on the ground and blizzard like conditions outside my bedroom window in the middle of April, I really didn't want to go hiking. I let the wolf outside to play in the snow, and crawled back in bed with Nova, pulling the blankets up over my head. Maybe if I just lay here another half hour I thought. But my mind raced with where to go for the day. I had originally planned on another hike far away with my typical backup plan to that one. Both were out the window when there was this much snow already on the ground here at home. I figured it must be snowing like this in most of the Gorge, so I better chose a hike closer to home or something somewhat easy. As I lay under the blankets next to Nova's sweet snoring face, I narrowed my options down to two. The first an easy 10 mile hike in Hood River. Not a lot of elevation gain or loss, nice wide path that is easy to find in the snow and so few miles that it hardly qualifies as a hike. It would be a perfect snow hike. The second option was an 18.5 mile hike on and off the Pacific Crest Trail to a secret waterfall that I love. My mind and body screamed for the easy Hood River hike, but my heart told me that we had just had 2 days of record rains with snow currently falling. That meant the waterfall would be hard and spectacular.
So are you trying to figure out where I went, or do you know already? Yeah, my truck drove itself to the hard and spectacular. You only live once I told myself. Now, let me tell you about this waterfall. So it was one that I had never known even existed before a couple of years ago. I had been pouring through maps, books and blogs reading about hikes and caught the name of the falls. Wait, I thought, I know that area, but have never seen or heard about a waterfall there. The more I researched, the more I learned that this was truly a hidden and secretive gem well off the beaten path and it was hard to find information about it. After staring at maps forever, I finally figured out how to get there. I would need to go north on the PCT for many miles, then take off at an unmarked intersection on an unmaintained trail east. There was no way to do this without making at least an 18 mile commitment. There would be about 3000 feet of elevation gain and loss and unknown trail conditions once off the PCT. I have now done this hike in almost every season. The falls are beautiful and amazing to me at any time, but after torrential rains, it was surely the best of all! They are a series of plunges falling through slots in and around boulders off a steep cliff. There are at least 4 separate tiered plunges before further falls continue downstream below. Now, I would tell you the name of this waterfall and how to find it, but then I would have to kill you. This is my secret and special place, so I have to take this one to my grave. I have never....not once....seen another human here and I can't have that change.
Just for fun, I was trying out a new pair of boots for this hike. They are super waterproof and did great at keeping my feet dry, even when we were literally hiking through streams that covered the laces with water. As is tradition, I took a photo of them at the trailhead to commemorate their maiden voyage. Look at how beautiful and clean they were! They did not stay that way long on the muddy trail, I can tell you that. What was so strange was that despite all the snow at my home, once I drove down in elevation to make it to this trail head, everything was just mud. That was at least until I climbed high enough to get back above snow line.
After just a couple of miles, we found the first Trilliums of the season, reminding me that it was indeed Spring, despite the snowy morning. Trilliums might be my third favorite Spring wildflower, but it is so hard to chose! Nova posed with a few so you could see them too. You know what I love about the Trillium? It does not grow on the sunny hillsides or meadows. It will only be found under the dark forest canopies. It is a true shining star in the darkness!
During our miles on the PCT, we slowly climbed through varying landscapes. There were vast rocky sections to navigate, several rivers to cross, mossy covered trail sides, lakes and frog filled ponds, deep dark forests and open vistas. It is always a little of everything through this section. But I loved how the PCT here spoiled me. There were places like this where I could cross the river, hopping from one wet mossy rock to another.
But then, there were bridges like this to make me feel like a princess. Why not? It was pretty slippery, so I was glad for the handrails!
People often ask me why I am so addicted to hiking. Why do I have to go every single week, no matter what they want to know. Why don't I just take a break? I am in my third year of weekly hiking with no breaks for any reason and that is inconceivable for many. This is a hard question to answer for me, because words just can't make people understand. Of course it is good exercise and keeps me in shape. That is the easy answer I give when I don't want to go into the real reason. But the true answer is that hiking has become entrenched into my soul. I have always loved nature and being outside of course, but when you spend enough time outside, you become a part of it. You feel more. You sense more. You become more. You are part of something bigger than yourself. I love the crisp fresh air and the feeling of taking a huge breath to fill my lungs. The touch of the sun on your skin, or the smell of fir needles crushed under your boots, the sight of mountains buried under glaciers, it is all magical. The world slows down when you can only go about 3-4 mph. You experience things you wouldn't normally get to. You begin to feel at one with the earth, even able to anticipate the weather before it happens. The sense of discovery and adventure fills a hole in yourself that you didn't even know you had. I love when I am in a precarious moment and every thought and problem you had in your mind is gone. It comes down to survival only. I love to push myself to my limit and then beyond just to see what I am capable of. The natural high I get after these moments is incredible. John Denver was always right.
Every single time I am in an uncomfortable situation...sitting in the dentist chair, stuck in traffic or a boring meeting, my mind wonders off to a moment standing on a ledge in a windstorm or watching a sunrise, or the sound of cracking glaciers while eating trail mix. It all fills me to overflowing and I am so thankful for every step I have taken. The time alone is priceless. No sounds but those made my nature. No humans who annoy me. I can talk to God all day long. Not the boring stuff just asking Him to take care of my wants and needs. But getting to know Him. We talk about His favorite color, what the hardest flower was to make, what His favorite season is, how He designed the eyeball....you know, the stuff that actually matters....at least to me. He directs my life when I hike with Him. I can't imagine not having this time. Don't get me wrong, I feel God in my Church and in my truck when I drive. I feel God when I sit at my desk at work or lay down to sleep my five hours a night. But more than anywhere else, I feel Him in the outdoors....in the world He made for each of us.
Nowadays everyone is always talking about a work-life balance. But I think they spend their life balance time on the couch. We get one life and one body. What are we doing with it is what I ask? We have to find something we are passionate about . What are our dreams? Why aren't we going for them? I constantly tell myself I can sleep when I am dead. There is too much to do in the meantime. When I am 80 years old and in a rocking chair unable to move, I want to remember that I did something that mattered. I want to remember that I chose the path less taken. I want to remember the crooked trails that I have followed. God and I often have to argue over His verse about making my crooked places straight. I don't want them straight! In fact, I find straight trails very boring! I long for the crooked paths. We have agreed to disagree on this point. But God gives me signs on the trail. Here was a literal one.
In case you don't have your glasses on, this tiny sign says "Follow your heart". I love hiking along the PCT because thru-hikers will leave little signs and notes like this for other hikers. I enjoy reading them and they generally make me laugh. But I was indeed following my heart this day up the trail.
The trail was so incredibly mossy that it made me think of someone I recently met who had just moved here from Nevada. They told me that they had never seen moss in their life, until moving to the Pacific Northwest. I was really taken aback by this statement as I couldn't imagine not having seen or experienced moss. So this photo is for all my friends in Nevada! Just look at those mossy boulders! They even made Josie smile.
But a moment that stunned all three of us on the trail was coming around a bend in the darkened forest to find sunshine filtering down through the canopy above onto an incredibly green forest floor. It was so green that it was painful for my eyes to behold. Such color after a long winter made me want to scream out-loud!! "No more will my green sea turn a deeper blue"....yes, I am still obsessed with the same song as last week! It is really stuck in my head and I might be wearing out that CD in my truck. Someone help me!
As the sun reached down to us we all had to pause and just take some deep breaths, close our eyes and enjoy the moment. The girls both jumped onto a large mossy boulder for this quick sun bath.
It was soon time to turn off the well loved and easy to follow PCT onto that unmaintained path through the forest to my secret waterfall. Almost immediately we came to downed trees and got to start to play the over-under game. When there are huge trees across the trail, we have to all cross them together in the same way. Since we are all tied together, we either all go over or we all go under. I have the girls trained to stop when they come to a log. They wait for the command....either over or under. Then they follow this direction. It is a beautiful thing and one of the few times they actually both listen on the trail. But some of the downed trees on this path made the over-under game extra challenging. Even my huge wolf knew this was going to be a big over and Nova would need some boosting! Clearly our princess hiking on the PCT was over.
After crossing several more streams, logs and circumventing ponds and marshy areas, we found ourselves above snowline once again. I love when it is only our footprints in the snow. You can learn a lot from this photo....see how long the wolf's strides are. See how many more steps little Nova has to take in comparison and how close she walks to me? See how they each walk to my sides like little body guards. I love reading a story from the ground. Tracking is wildly distracting to me sometimes.
The trail took us alongside some house sized boulders and then under steep, immense and snow covered cliffs that blotted out the sun. I knew we were almost to the falls now. Maybe only another half mile. At that moment I realized that had I done the Hood River hike, I would have almost been done and back to my truck by now. Instead, on this trail, I was only about half way through the hike. I smiled at the thought and was happy that I chose this hike. So was Josie the wolf as she got to lay in the snow and enjoy some views. In case you are wondering what that dirty spot on the side of her face and on her backpack is, she rolled in something dead and smelly earlier. Yup, she is a beast. Disgusting Josie!
We started to hear the falls far earlier than we normally would. I knew those extra heavy rains we had been having had surely made a huge difference to the falls. I could tell they were roaring and we all increased our pace to get to them. As we dropped down into the ravine where the falls tumble from the cliffs above, the most noticeable thing was that a huge landslide had occurred quite recently above and to the east side of the falls. It was massive and had taken out a number of giant fir trees in the process. The land was clearly not stable here from all the water. We stood below the falls and looked up with one thought in our heads. We should climb up the side of these falls on the snow covered wet boulders to get a closer look at each plunging tier! This is why my own Mother does not know about this website I must say. She would surely not approve of our decisions on the trail and give herself a heart attack just reading this....so no one tell her please! But I justified my decision figuring that you can't really get a good look at the entire falls here since there are so many separate tiers. So we had to climb them all to really appreciate the majesty!
Now that I look closer at her face in this photo, Nova may not have been in agreement with this climbing plan actually......
But up we went. Hindsight being 20/20, I am not sure why I left my backpack on for the climb. I can only say that when you carry your kit for so many miles it rather becomes an extension of your body and you forget it is there. Sort of like a parasite you have had for too long. But about half way up, my pack was getting me hung up on some branches, making me less agile and requiring me to crawl on my hands and knees in some places over the wet boulders to get under some brush. I was fighting with the trees reaching for the water it seemed. But the girls were doing pretty good with each level we would climb...at least going up. Nova needed more boosting on some of the bigger boulders, and we desperately needed our timing to be in sync. This was my favorite level here! The roar and spray from this tier were intense. Finding a safe foot-hold was almost impossible though!
When we got to one of the upper tiers, just above the largest drop of the waterfall, Josie decided she wanted to get into the white water to take a drink and feel the current. She is a wolf after my own heart with her sense of adventure. "Okay Josie", I told her. "Go ahead and Nova and I will hold your line." So I leaned back hard on the strap spanning from her harness to my tactical belt. I swear I felt Nova leaning back behind me too. We were not going to let Josie go over the falls! She didn't stay in those swirling rapids long, but she did get a drink and stood right over the falls to look down from the top. Then she came back to look at me very sheepishly. I think the strength of that current surprised her.
Turns out the climb up the falls was the easy part.....like always. It was descending the wet boulders that got us into more trouble. Josie wanted to go first and somehow thought going really fast and jumping from each boulder was the way to do it. She forgot that Nova has much shorter legs and would need more help than that. I had also decided to descend facing forward so I could back down while watching and directing the wolf and then turn to lift Nova as needed. But when Josie did her first jump while tied to me, I about did a head first dive down the entire falls pushed by the weight of my pack from behind. "Bad idea!" I yelled to Josie who couldn't really hear me over the thunderous roar of the falls. At one point Josie jumped again pulling us off our feet in her excitement to get to the bottom of the falls. Somehow I ended up taking a picture while falling. It might be my favorite picture from the whole hike. I knew I felt like the water fall was suddenly on top of me! I probably should wear a helmet when I hike, or at least some extra padding when climbing up waterfalls with a wolf. I quickly realized I was now soaked from my waist down. But my feet were still dry!
When you take a fall with adrenaline running, the nice thing is that you usually don't notice the pain. It won't be until that adrenaline leaves your system that you start to feel what you did to yourself. So we started our hike out feeling pretty good and unaware of any issue. But before long, Josie was telling her Sissy she was sorry for pulling her off a boulder.
The sun was getting lower in the sky and we had about 8.5 miles still to go. So we ate some quick snacks to rejuvenate and hit the trail out. I was doing great until we hit about 6 more miles to go to the truck and the high from the falls left me. It was then that I realized my bad left knee was really acting up. Each step felt like I could feel the tearing of my tendon despite the strap and bracing I wore. So I had to try to walk without bending my left knee...which in turn put extra strain on the "good" knee, soon causing the same pain there. I figured I must have twisted my knee during the fall down the waterfall. Then I recognized that my right pinky toe had a very painful blister probably from breaking in new boots on a long hike. It seemed that using a rusty hatchet to cut the toe off would be less painful than that blister was. But I still had 6 miles to go, so I knew I had to put all pain out of my mind. Nova tried to help me by looking like a beautiful statue.
When pain happens on the trail, I have few options. I have to assess if I have anything in my robust first aid kit that will help. If not, I ask myself if I want to spend the night. If that is not an option, I just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I am one of those weirdos that refuse to take pain meds. My system just can't even tolerate an Ibuprofen. So I didn't have anything with me but more tape and strapping. In that moment however, I realized that if I did have pain killers with me, I might have taken an entire bottle. So good thing I did not. About the only thing I could do was to slightly slow my pace and mentally think about anything except the pain. That worked well until we were about 2 miles from the truck. At this point the involuntary wincing and cursing that was coming from my mouth made me have to recognize I was hurt. I allowed myself to fully feel the pain, recognizing and acknowledging it for what it was, for just one minute out of every ten. Then the other nine minutes I spent pushing it out of my mind with every ounce of will power I had in me. In this process though, I became aware of another slight discomfort from both shinbones as well. Some sort of bruising was clearly happening there, but it was the least of my worries and easy to forget in comparison. I prayed for the strength to get to my truck. I only had faith the size of a withered mustard seed at this point, but I knew that would be enough.
This mind over matter technique that got me out those last few miles that night is the same that I use in my life when anything unpleasant happens. I essentially try to ignore it or forget whatever is happening and keep pushing through. When I have to, I acknowledge what is happening and assess what, if anything, can be done. If nothing can be done, I keep pushing through. I dig deep. I find my big girl panties. This has proven to be a very useful tool in making me tough as nails, but more importantly, allowing me to live the life God puts before me without having a mental breakdown. Life is hard. We all need as many tools as we can get in our tool chests to get through it. Trail life has given me lots of practice at sharpening my tools! The next day I finally took a look at my legs and indeed found some weird bruising on those shinbones. Funny that I barely felt this when compared to all the other pain. Just a matter of perspective I suppose. I will spare you the blister. It was real ugly. I can't imagine what the insides of my knees look like! But they all better heal by next week, as we will be hitting the trail again no matter what.
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