We headed out early New Year's Eve to go hike at Cane Creek Canyon. The weather forecast called for clearing skies, but it never happened, we saw the sun once all day. Overhead, the clouds were lined like the photo above, it was REALLY hard to focus while driving, we called them optical illusion clouds.
We arrived, signed in, headed out on the trail and stopped at the waterfall. In the first pool, about 15 feet down, there was a turtle on its back, we thought it was dead. Jake climbed down to try to fish it out so Ben would not be upset to see it and when he moved it, it started struggling again.
Matt zipped down to help and got himself soaked, but was able to flip the turtle back over and get him out of the water. The poor thing had probably been swept over in the rain water and managed to land on his back, he was only just able to get his head above the water to breathe. It was SO cold, we rubbed on him some and moved him back up the hillside. The second set of falls is a 45 foot drop, he would have been dead for sure.
We talked about moving him to the bottom of the falls, but turtles have a home range and if they get moved out of it, they can die. The bottom of the falls would be foreign territory.
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| Look at that sweet boy, he was so tense, even seeing the turtle was moving all it's parts did not make him feel much better. |
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| The first drop! |
We walked on back to the point and took the steep trail down to Linden Meadows and made tracks to our favorite campsite back at Creekside. From there we headed toward Delony Hollow and climbed the trail to The Fin.
Ben and Chan were ZONKED all day, any time we stopped, they tried to nap. On the way up, Ben had a relapse to 3 and wanted me to carry him out!
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| Less than a mile in our 7 mile hike, Jake breaks out his snack. |
Down at the creek, we met back up with the kids at Linden Meadows. They go SO much faster than we do now, it's lots of hurry up and wait when they hike. I imagine they could cover some major ground if let loose.
I felt rotten all day, I could not get enough air-all stuffed up. That made my head hurt, which was made worse with any heart rate increase. I took a couple rounds of painkillers to no avail. I had taken Benedryl the night before and did not sleep enough to get that woozy feeling out of my skull and body and that was all I had on me to take for congested head. I knew not to take more of it. The only time my heart rate went over 50 BPM all day was when I was walking uphill or had consumed caffeine. It was a good bit like being underwater all day.
The reunion is joyful.
At Creekside, our favorite little swimming hole is full and the campsite itself looks pretty bleak!
We hiked up to The Fin and back out, the kids waited for us near Blue Hole and we made the push out together...for a bit. We opted to take the Steep Trail out and they got WAY ahead again as Matt and I huffed and puffed and I lamented EVER being able to climb steep trails without feeling like I am going to keel over.
At the top, the kids were arranged in various poses of exhaustion, so at least they get tired climbing, too. Just don't have the sense to stop and rest a bit to keep going...
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| Jake looks down for the count... |
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| I perform the time-honored reflex test. |
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| It LIVES! It's annoyed, too. |
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| Chan, in her final braced week! |
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| This, being the only photo I have of all three recently, will be next year's Christmas card photo. |
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| Matt attempts to jolt Ben back to action. We walked back by the waterfall to check on the turtle and he was long gone, hopefully back home! I slipped on the way down and CRACKED my rear end. Luckily NOT on my mangled coccyx at least, but this morning I have a fist-sized bruise and it's very tender. Waa |
Before we left, Faye hooked us up with a TON of turnips and loads of greens and kale. We have been cooking since we got home.
From the drive home:
When we got home, I had a final burst of energy and we got all the laundry washed and put away, including what we had worn hiking. I crawled in to bed just after midnight, Matt had gone to bed ahead of me so he could get my side warm.
When I woke up today, it was with another splitting headache and stuffed-up head, so I have walked 155 steps (it's after 4) compared to the 2 previous days of over 18,000 steps each day. I hope THAT does not set my standard for the new year. But, sometimes a thing is merely a thing and not a omen. Today my thing is achy head.
