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The hike was enjoyable and we didn't have any difficulty following the trail up to the waterfall. We reached the falls and played around and enjoyed the scenery until it was dark. Then it started to get a little chilly and we decided to make our way back.
It was some time later before we realized we were not on the trail. It turns out the trail up to the waterfall is not as visible on the way back for some reason and we had wandered into the brush. We decided to try to light the lantern once more to see if we could find the trail. That failed so we lit the next best thing which was Paul's "Hunter Dan" camouflage hunting hat. That was good and proper, not to mention helpful. It burned and rained down dripping blobs of petroleum based textile until the flames reached Paul's fingers and he quickly extinguished the hat.
Near the base of the mountain we were on is a railroad track which spans the length of the mountain. We realized that if we continued down the mountain we would eventually find the railroad tracks and we could follow them until we found the park where the car was parked. We crawled through branches and brush as we moved downward. We incurred scratches and branches in eyeballs. It got darker and darker as we continued to not find the railroad tracks.
We were very nearly resigned to living on the side of this mountain for the rest of our days when we finally came upon the railroad tracks. We felt that we had gone quite a ways north in our meanderings so we headed south along the tracks for several hundred yards until we came to an impenetrable bush growing on the tracks. We had worked so long and hard at finding the tracks in the first place that we were absolutely not going to leave them even for a moment to circumnavigate this bush. Since we weren't entirely certain that we were going the right way anyway, we turned around and headed back along the tracks in the opposite direction. After a couple of miles in the northward direction we felt certain that we were definitely not going the right way. So we turned around and walked back a couple of miles plus several hundred yards to the impenetrable bush. It turned out not to be so impenetrable. We pushed easily through the bush and were filled with hope when we saw afar a streetlight that we believed to be in the parking lot of the park where we left the car. We hurried onward and eventually we were safe back in the park with the college students who were enjoying a large bonfire.
It was at this point that Paul realized his keys were missing. These were the keys that we needed to start the car that would take us back home. There was a hole in the pocket of Paul's sweat pant-like pants and the keys were long gone. We began scouring the park where the college folk had tried to help us light the lantern in the hope that they had fallen out before we actually went up the mountain. The friendly college persons helped us look but to no avail. The keys were not there. The college students offered to take us down to the Bridal Veil Falls gift shop to use a pay phone to call for help. They were very thoughtful and kind. Paul used the phone to call home and his sister Robin answered. Paul explained our predicament and Robin kindly responded by hanging up on him. Thanks, Robin! You are a treasure.
Fortunately our college age friends were still nearby and they offered to take us home. We were very grateful and accepted their offer. As we were being taken home I began to feel things crawling on me. All over me. When I grabbed one of these things it turned out to be a caterpillar. There were many and they were crawling in my hair, on my arms and on my legs. I repaid the kindness of the college peeps by leaving a pile of caterpillars on the passenger side floor of their car. It was the least I could do.
I enjoyed this imaginative retelling very much. I had forgotten about a lot of this, including the bush and the caterpillars. Some things that I remember differently (which does not affect the accuracy of your story in any way):
ReplyDeleteSarah Preston told US, hey we ought to go find these falls, we agreed after some coaxing. And we had someone else there....was it Suzanne?
I don't remember ever locating the falls. I thought we just gave up lookin'.
The lantern was out of gas or broken. I knew how to light it, it just wasnt working. And didnt we put some kind of flammable liquid on the Adventurer Dan hat?
I remember a middle-aged man driving us home. Robin wouldn't come, because she was making out with her black boyfriend, Alex. My parents were gone to Ecuador. And we WERE extremely thankful for her just hanging up on us. I remember beating her when I got home.
We were EXTREMELY lucky the next day to find those keys. There was no trail, so we just find these keys laying there on this huge mountain with tons of bushes and trees.
What the hell were we thinking?
It was just the three of us. Someone else may have been around while we made plans to go on this hike but if they were, they declined to come along on the hike. I knew where the falls were because I had been there several times before. I thought for sure you had been there too. We did make it to the falls and there is a trail, we just couldn't find it on the way back. The whole time I was writing this I couldn't think of what you called that hat so I settled for Hunter Dan knowing it wasn't right. Thank you! Adventure Dan is the appellation given to that item, on that you are quite right. When we went up the next day to find the keys we followed the trail up and walked right over them. It was easier to see the trail back down in the daylight and I walked right past the keys again, but you found them. That was very lucky. I'm not sure why you remember a middle-aged man taking us home, unless it was because you thought he looked so much older than you that he must have been middle aged. He was one of the college age fellers.
ReplyDeleteOh man, I feel like I missed out on so much living so far away in the land of Idaho...
ReplyDeleteThat was extremely funny. Do you light a hat on fire? Especially when you're surrounded by, hmm, I don't know, WOOD?? Yes, you do. That sounds like a walk of pleasantries. Reminds me of one time with Paul in Vegas deciding to walk to the strip from my aunt's house. We could see Circus Circus in the distance - it MUST be close. It wasn't. It also wasn't filled with many many obstacles like huge fences that we had to walk the entire way around. It was a walk of a) pleasure and b)safety. Is Paul the common denominator here? (I also hope that comment will spark your Vegas story.)
ReplyDeleteRobin certainly IS a treasure. That was NICE. And I'm sure the kind college student was thankful for the caterpillars.
Say what you will about Paul, but he also seems to be extremely lucky all the time, too. I can't believe he found those keys. It's like the time he left his keys in our car and it was stolen. We found it two days later by looking for it around an adjacent neighborhood. He STILL leaves his keys in the car to this day. Hey - if anyone wants a car...ya know.
I am hoping that this was before the trail to the falls was paved. Please tell me you didn't lose your way from an asphalt trail.
ReplyDeleteIs that what that black road-like stuff was leading up to the trail? How did we miss that, Paul?
ReplyDeleteNo, Sherri, this trail was not nor is it now paved. (You may be thinking of Bridal Veil Falls itself. That is nearby, but is not the waterfall we went to on this occasion.) The trail in my tale leads to a waterfall that is not easily accessible by the public. You have to climb around this battered chain-link fence that would certainly keep small children and puppies out but was no match for a few determined teenagers.
Mandi, was there more to the Las Vegas story than Paul and me getting our picture taken holding hands? That wouldn't make for a very entertaining story. Though I think that may have been the trip where we made up the Graham Cracker song. That was bad.
I still maintain there was no trail. I just remember walking through so many trees and bushes. Any trail was just the space between 2 vegetations.
ReplyDeleteWe found your keys the next day on the trail. If there were no trail we would have never found your keys. It would have been impossible.
ReplyDeleteAnd the peeing on each other part in the hotel room also seemed memorable to me. But I guess you're right. Not much of a story. Although it has been told to me thousands upon nonce. I was hoping that you'd remember something about it worth telling.
ReplyDeleteIf I was on Identity as one of the people you have to guess about, my identity would be "Peed on a man in a Las Vegas hotel room".
ReplyDelete