Adventure at Salt Creek Falls

Salt Creek Falls B/W
Originally uploaded by Janice Wagnon

When Jeff woke me up at 5:30 on a Saturday morning to go to this waterfall, my first thought was that I would not get up until my list of demands had been met.  The bed was warm and toasty and the forecast called for 9 degrees outside.  My first demand (a.k.a. stalling technique) was for a warm cat to purr on me.  Upon hearing said demand, Jeff let the cats in the bedroom with instructions to "get Mama out of bed."  Chalupa jumped up on me and purred warmly on my belly.

Now, I needed to add to my list of demands in order to stay in bed longer.  So, I told Jeff I would not get up until I was served hot Australian tea in bed.  Jeff played along and added that it must be served by a british butler with a lisp who was born on the fourth of July in 1954.

Seeing my negotiations were getting nowhere, I crawled out of bed muttering profanities under my breath.  Fast forward one hour and we're climbing out of the jeep wondering which trail leads down the cliff to the base of Salt Creek Falls.  We found the trail to the top of the falls first.  Then found a trail off to the right that seemed to be the correct one.

It should be noted at this point that the word "trail" is an optimistic way to describe a challenging path of boulders and snow-covered ledges.  Some thoughtful souls had reserved themselves a place in Heaven by securing a series of ropes and one fire hose to trees bordering the path.  Without these ropes I certainly would not have made it down to the base of the falls, let alone back up!

I had been warned by a very sweet lady trained in search and rescue that this was a treacherous trip and that I should proceed at all times with caution.  Her last words of advice to me were not to attempt this feat alone.

Finally down at the base of the waterfall we were not a little impressed by the size of the waterfall and the amount of flow.  In addition to the voluminous flowing water, we saw icicles dotting the cliffs and even the waterfall itself.  In the pool beneath the waterfall, large chunks of ice clung to the shore.

When we had left the jeep it was 14 degrees F., NOT accounting for wind chill.  Here at the base of the icy falls it felt like about 10 below zero!  I set up my tripod and took three long exposure shots before my fingers froze into a paralytic numbness.  I decided not to take any more photos and save what was left of my hands for the climb back up.

The trip up the path/icy boulders was scary!  I used the ropes to help as much as I could, but using ropes requires a certain amount of upper body strength, which I am sorely lacking.  At one especially treacherous point, I actually had to sit down and gather up courage before attempting the scale.  I even backed out a few times and just sat wondering if I would die there.  Jeff climbed on up ahead of me to see if he could get in a position to help pull me up.  Finally, I envisioned a way to side step the climb up two huge rocks.  Whew!  I've never been so proud as I was when I reached the top!  When I climbed back breathless into the jeep I felt like I had just invented some life-saving serum or scaled Mt. Everest!  It was a great sense of accomplishment.  :)  Thank you to Bill Wilson from Flickr and Terri from Get Lost! for helping us with directions and advice!  :)