April 29, 2009
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What In The Hell Was I Thinking????
The Beast and I woke up early this morning (Tuesday) and were on the road to Double Springs and Bankhead National Forest by 7:30am. The trip was uneventful (boring) and the GPS took us to ..nothing. I think it was just the address of the mailbox from what we found. Luckily, the Ranger Station was just down the road but….the Beast had to spend an hour running up and down the road for miles before I could get him to turn around and go back to the rangers station. I knew they would have to have maps and, possibly, directions to all the various falls there. By the time we got to one of the falls, it was already noon.
We ended up going to see Caney Falls because, as the ranger said, if you have trouble walking then you want to go to this falls. It involved ONLY a mile and a half hike to it. Now, let me tell you this much. The last time I walked a mile and a half was many years ago when I was a lot younger than I am now. But, compared to some of the other falls in the area, a mile and a half seemed reasonable. And, you would think that the ranger, recognizing that the Beast has a pronounced limp, would not send him to a rough hike, right? WRONG! It was definitely not a hike for amateurs.
It didn’t seem too bad to begin with but that changed. As I looked back, all I could think of was that it was going to be worse coming back because there was a long uphill hike in store for us to get back to the car. I had no clue how bad it was going to be. We made many stops even though we were not pushing ourselves. Even the dog (yes, he accompanied us) was panting. I had a quart of water with us and shared with the dog by cupping my hand and letting him lap it up.
The temperature reached about 85 there but it helped that there were so many trees everywhere. We eventually got to the falls but the last hundred feet were a nightmare. It had an incredible incline and the Beast got so spooked that he put the dog on the leash fearing he would take a wrong turn and fall over the edge and into the canyon. We were grabbing trees on the way to an incline that allowed us to catch our breath and slowly make our way down to the bottom where the water pooled and we had a wonderful full view of the falls and the caverns. Baron immediately went to the pool and quenched his thirst and then stepped into the pool for a little cooling off. I had Baron’s leash then while the Beast set up his tripod to take some pictures so we walked behind the falls. That’s something I always wanted to do some day. It was kind of cool.
I went and sat down on one of the shale ledges and Baron plopped down next to me and we just sat quietly and relaxed. The Beast had a problem with his camera and turned the air blue for a while until he finally figured out how to correct it and got the pictures he wanted. Then we started back. OMG….it was scary going UP from the canyon and getting back to just awful. It then became torture. I thought I might just lay down and have the Beast leave me there to die. But then I thought…no! That would mean HE would win and I couldn’t have that. So, I dragged myself along. It was take 8 steps and stop. Rest for a minute. Take 8 more and then rest. 8 and rest, 8 and rest. When I finally could see the end of the trail I was very near the end of my endurance. It was more uphill than anything the whole way back and my poor legs were just screaming at me. I know I am going to suffer for it tomorrow. I took a pain pill when I got home and we shall see how much good it actually does when I take my butt to bed in a few minutes.
The dog loved the whole thing. He went hither and yon and came back to check on us, jumped over fallen trees with ease and sniffed everything he came across. It was also the longest walk HE had ever gone on with us. It made me laugh to see him collapse and go right to sleep in the car when we got back to it. I put my seat back and did the same thing. I actually slept until about a half hour before we got home. Never did a house look so good to me! When the Beast, joking, said something about hitting one of the other fall areas tomorrow, it was all I could do to keep from hitting him with a frying pan. It will be a long time before he gets me to do anything like this again. Give me a paved road, a nice parking area and a fenced overlook. That’s for me! Otherwise, not a chance in hell.
We came home and I showered, he got into a hot tub because he KNOWS his bad leg will punish him badly tomorrow. We ate sandwiches and had ice cream later. I got on Pogo to talk to my sister and some online friends while we played Monoslots and I just relaxed. I’m truly beat now so I am going to post this and head for bed. I don’t have Chewlee again tomorrow so I hope I don’t suffer too much. If I do, I hope I get over it quickly. Pray for me. I am hoping I don’t get leg cramps and spend most of the night pacing the floor. It’s the only way I can get over them when they hit me. It’s still painful to walk but eventually works okay.
Love you all. Hope you have a wonderful day. Have fun but don’t do any hiking if you aren’t in great shape and used to it. Trust me, I know!
