Out of the Wild

Day 1 here.

Day 2 of our Memorial Day weekend we woke up after having gotten little sleep due to the lack of pillows and the hard surface we laid on. And.. sure enough, it had rained.. A lot. Luckily the pack with our food that we had tied up in a tree (to keep away from bears) was waterproof, so the contents were mostly dry. So we got up, ate some gorp & apples, and started cleaning up our campsite.

We left all our gear, except one pack filled with water, gorp, & toilet paper (of course), at the campsite. Our hike for the day was into a place called Abram's Falls.

See those people to Z's right? Unfortunately, the trail they were on led them straight through the river! :)The sign & bridge right before we got to the falls.
There were a lot of people at the falls because there was another trail that led there from a nearby parking lot. We saw a group of twenty-something guys goofing off near the edge. Some were jumping off the cliff just to the left of the falls. Z and I couldn't help but think that it would be awfully easy for them to get sucked under by the current.

Then we found out on Monday that someone actually died a few hours after we left. Wow.. that sign wasn't so amusing anymore! You can see the article here. It's such a hard, sad way for people to learn a lesson. I can't imagine what his friends are going through.

The hike back to the campsite was pretty tough. The fatigue from the previous hiking was starting to set in. When we got back we packed up all our [wet] stuff into our packs & started back towards the car. If it hadn't been for my ankle braces, Z's encouragement, and several quick breaks, I might've been in pretty sad shape! The front of our toes were in serious pain from the steep downhill & our (okay my) legs felt like Jelly!I've never been so excited to see a car with AC. It was ridiculously humid, especially for this New England girl! Combine that with the fact that I was probably sweating more than I ever have, and you get one wifey who was very excited to find a hotel! More on that next time though.

As we were driving out of the Park, we saw this:

I just love seeing rainbows. They always make me say a quick "thank you" prayer.

Day 3 to come!