A Day Hike with Girls

Mayhem! Death! Insanity! a.k.a. "A Day Hike with Girls".

OK, so it wasn't quite that bad. Saturday, I went on another falls visit with Jarred Mann, Nowell Hardin and GIRLS!!! *Insert 50's Hitchcock thriller music* Brittany Koppen, Michelle Lavengood (that's a long "a", get it right...all together now... lay-vin-good...great job) and Sarah Starks. All in all it was a good time, though I'm pretty sure Sarah almost died.



We arrived at the trailhead about 10:45 and set out on a day of adventure. The late morning air was wonderfully crisp as we entered the well-worn path. The babbling brook followed us for a short time. We crossed three times on well-placed stones that move under your feet. One spot has a small, but picturesque four-foot waterfall and near-perfect squares as stepping stones.





I think Sarah tripped.

We soon turned off the original trail and moved over man-made wooden bridges and along deep ravines. The trees stood bare on the slopes and afforded a view of the valleys toward the sleepy town of Walhalla. The trail was littered with fallen trees from the ice storm in December.

Sarah tripped again.

After the 1.5 mile trek, we finally heard the faint roar of the falls in the distance. We were getting quite close. As we rounded the last turn and headed downhill, the falls peaked through the firs. We quickly descended the last hundred yards to the rock-strewn base of the falls.



Sarah tripped.

For an hour we gazed upon the beauty of the beauty of the surrounding flora, fauna and falls. Ok, so there wasn't a lot of fauna, but the flora and falls were pretty sweet.



Of course, moss still grows on the north face of forest things. The large rock became a hazard for the girls and Brittany nearly fell to her untimely death when she tried to slide off the front of the rock formation at the falls' base. Sarah surpisingly made it off the rock unscathed, much to the chagrin of the guys.

We started up the steep incline toward the top of the falls and within a few minutes we were once again on top of the world. At least on top of our little hick-town, middle-of-nowhere, waterfall world. A group of girls from Clemson (I am assuming they were from Clemson) arrived at the base of the falls, so the guys...excuse me, THE MEN...had to climb down through briars and fallen trees to the middle section of the falls to show our bravado and machismo. I don't think it worked too well...I'm pretty sure I heard them laughing at us.

Back at the top, we convinced the ladies to walk upstream with us which lead to pretty much nowhere.



After twenty minutes or so, we turned back and headed toward the trail.



I think Sarah tripped here twice and I made Michelle fall when I took a picture of her...



...it was pretty comical to me and the others, but if the look on her face could kill, no one would have made it out alive.

Forty-five minutes and seventeen Sarah near-death experiences later, we arrived at the cars and lounged for a bit before we headed back to the comfort of SWU.



Jarred met my friend Chuck. They became friends pretty quick. Aren't they cute?



I enjoyed the day and was happy to have the ladies along for the trip, no pun intended Sarah.

Note: All references to wishing for bodily harm to Sarah Starks or any of the girls is absolutely made up on my part. It is inserted for comedic value only. Please do not write angry comments concerning this. Also, the number of times that Sarah tripped may have been exaggerated slightly.