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Cascades |
Dismal Falls |
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First column: The Falls, Logrolling, Butterfly on 8-year-old
hand, Flowers in 2004
Second column: Dismal Falls, Aliens Landing at Dismal Falls, Susan Baylies
at the falls (click the picture), Horse in 2002
This year I went on two wet waterfall hikes, both of them SUUSI favorites. The water was unusually warm at Cascades this year, and I could swim around a while in the cold pool in front of the falls. The usual butterflies were around at the start of the trail, and I caught one perching on the hand of an 8-year-old girl. The bottom picture is from 2004 and shows the flowers at the start of the trail. WE had to do part of the route on the western (or jeep) trail, because of high water closing the path that we had wanted to go. It was long and steep but we made it and it was just as fun.
Dismal Falls was also affected by recent rains, notably from Hurricane Dennis 2005. The usual hike we took to get there contains a fording place, and this year it was over knee deep. So we drove to the other side, and walked only down a hill, and we were at the falls. We had fun swimming and jumping off the ledges of the falls; a picture shows Susan Baylies, the T-shirt lady, about to take the plunge. We stopped at the usual place to hike there, which usually was a horse stable, but unlike 2002's SUUSI, there were no horses there. Too bad. But it was a good hike, and hope for more of the same in 2006!