Nature Girl

It is a well known that fact that when Jewels has an adventure involving nature and the outdoors, at some point she will hit her head. Alas the curses of being tall!

Today I had a wonderful opportunity to go hike Waterfall Canyon with two good friends. The weather appeared to be perfect for the event when I woke up this morning. It was sunny, not too hot, the birds were chirping, and I was no longer dreaming that I was naked at church. (Sorry dear readers, but its true. I dreamed I was naked at church and I was very relieved to wake up and find myself clothed in PJ's and in my bed. Phew!~)

As we reached the trail head, the weather changed and it began to rain. At first it was a soft, gentle, welcome rain. It felt so nice and we laughed as we headed up the mountain. We kept our eyes open for uniquely shaped rocks and laughed and teased each other. As we progressed, the weather got worse. Soon it was hailing...hard. Our faces and hands turned red and we took shelter under a few trees. Little rivulets started to trickle down the trail making it slippery and treacherous. Our pace slackened as our caution mounted.

In such miserable conditions, it seemed hard to believe that we would keep our good humor, but we did! We laughed and talked as we huffed and puffed our way up. Even when my short friends safely passed under a low, thick tree whilst I, in my tallness, smacked my head, we laughed it off and kept going.

At last we made the top and gazed the serene beauty of the waterfall. As we rested the clouds parted, the sun burst through and our cheerfulness increased. We feasted on the goodies brought with us and continued our quest for geometrically shaped rocks. We found a heart-shaped, a square, an oval, and a round rock. The sun quickly dried our damp hoodies and jackets and we started back down.

The views were spectacular and after the rain, the foliage was lush and green. We all picked wild flowers as we came down. We were sore and tired but felt a great sense of accomplishment that we continued in less than desirable conditions and came away smelling like...well, wild flowers. It was fantastic.

So thanks girls for a great day. Next time, I'll try to keep an eye out for low lying branches!