Weekend Wandering-Lost on the Way to a Waterfall

When I get my mind made up to do something, I'm going to do it. Most of the time, when I get a whim to do something, it is "spur of the moment", or unplanned.

This particular day, I talked my sister-in-law into going with me to check out a waterfall. Well, actually, she volunteered and just didn't know what she was getting into when she got in the vehicle with me. The temperature was only about 90 degrees and humidity, well, lets just say it was over the top.

I thought I knew exactly where the trail head was that leads to Pam's Grotto. I pulled in and parked alongside the highway. Across the road was a trail that led up a hillside and into the woods, the trail that I just knew led to Pam's Grotto. The trail is just a one mile hike so therefore, we took no water with us and we were dressed in our Sunday best, including sandals. I hope you take a minute to let this vision sink in....yes, we had our make-up on, Sunday clothes, and sandals, definitely not attire for hiking. LOL

We climbed, climbed a little higher, a little higher and then some more, climbing over big boulders, and downed trees. Every step we took was cautiously taken to avoid our sandaled toes being bitten by a copperhead or rattlesnake camouflaged in the leaves, grass and rocks. I detest ticks and it seems they gravitated to me....I'm shivering as I type this. One question though, why did God make ticks? What purpose do they serve except to suck blood? Oh well, on with the adventure.

I'm not one who gives up easily, but after a couple hours of wandering, I decided we were not on the right trail and we needed to backtrack. We sat down a couple of times to rest and to get our breath. Susie said her heart was pounding in her ears and even though mine was too, I kept silent and said we should sit down and rest. I couldn't let her think this avid walker was sweating it. I'm thinking to myself, "If either one of us has a heart attack or is bitten by a snake, how in the world do we contact anyone with no cell service?" We finally made it back to the car, huffing and puffing. No, makeup, sweat pouring, ruined sandals and no waterfall. Geez Louise, just not the smartest idea. Whose idea was this anyway? ;-)

We arrived back at the vehicle, hot and tired. Thankfully I had a change of clothes and some water.

We then decided to go to Haw Creek Falls, just a short distance down the road, the place we should have gone in the first place. We walked in the short distance to the fall and took off our shoes to cross a creek. We then got to enjoy the sound of the water flowing over the rocks at the falls.