Scared Kids

After the 4th of July Celebration in Maggie Valley (another post for another time) we went on a beautiful hike in the Smokey Mountains to Rainbow Falls, pictured above, and Turtle Rock (soon to come). The hike wasn't so bad, really, but I have to admit I was a little worried when I thought about how out of shape I am and saw grown men, drenched in sweat, returning from the hike. Still, it was shady, beautiful, and worth it to see a waterfall like this one.

It's kind of hard to put it into perspective from looking at a photo, but there's actually a person to the right of the falls at the top, next to a rock, peering over the edge. It's either a woman or a boy with lots of hair (there were a lot of them there), but in the next photo I tried to point "him" out to you. I can see him quite clearly when I bring the photo up in print shop.

Their head would be a tiny dot inside the circle I drew.

I have lots of photos of the hike to these falls, lots of drama and action, but I wanted to focus on the Scared Kids.

In this photo, you can see the deep pool which is just left of the actual falls. I'm sure in the spring when everything is thawing, this entire rock face is one roaring sheet of water! That would be something to behold, but I would hate to try to hike there through slippery mud. It was hard enough with dry dirt! Anyway, about 20 to 30 feet up this rock face, toward the left side of the picture, are two girls who are scared out of their wits.

Again, it's all about perspective. The picture above looks like a pile of rocks with a puddle at the bottom, but I can assure you it's a very deep pool and this is no "pile of rocks"! In fact, that is not a twig at the bottom right of the rock face, but an honest to goodness log that was once an entire tree. The girls, stuck on the rock face, had to go through a very hazardous climb to get to where they are (including climbing down vines toward the end there) so there's NO way off the rock face but to jump into the water.

Let's use Paint Shop again to help us out:

They were on this rock face almost the entire time we were there. First one would approach the edge of the little ledge they were standing on, look back at her friend for encouragement, then step back. They'd huddle together in coversation for a bit, then the other would step to the edge and repeat the process. I tried to zoom in, but my camera is not too "up close" friendly. Of course, by this time their third friend had come to help them out, took one look over the edge, and was just as scared as they were!

I'm telling you, nothing was going to move these girls off this cliff. Not even the long line of boys that stood behind them to wait their turn, then finally started jumping off from wherever they could. In the next photo, you see the boys waiting, but one of the girls had finally jumped off. Still, red bikini girl wasn't about to be rushed.

The boy on the far left of the photo had just climbed down the vines and was working his way over to the ledge.

When they finally did jump, all of us waiting at the bottom clapped and cheered for them. You can bet they didn't go back up that cliff!

All of this is the segue into tomorrow's post. :-)

Sorry this is all bunched together. I tried to space the paragraphs all neatly and dramatically, but for some reason it keeps posting all scrunched up.