Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Beauty in the Hidden ..... Part 3 ..... And now it gets very interesting.....

After we left Granny's we started back on the trail.
Here is another just beautiful spot.
I love the Buffalo River.
It is so beautiful.

So we went by the river for a way and came upon this fishing pole just leaning against this tree.
For some reason I found it funny =)
And then I saw a campsite just a few hundred feet away =) 

We had stopped to get sand and dirt out of our shoes and we were off again.

Up the path we went.....
Past some beautiful bluffs and rocks.....

And then across this creek bed.....
Looking around.....
Trying to find the path we were to be on....
We walked and walked and came across some campers and they told us we needed to go back the way we came.....
So back we went.....
Getting nowhere.....
Went across this creek bed.....
Again.....
And then Dick just almost stepped on this bad boy.....
A TARANTULA!!!
As we went back across these rocks again I told Dick this creek bed was of the devil.....
I am telling you, this was some tough walking.....
So we headed up to the falls trail, knowing that there was a trail that went around it up to the top to the .8 mile marker that we knew and out to the car.
So we started to the falls.....
we walked.....
and walked.....
and walked.....
and walked.....
and came across some more campers who said it dead ended by the falls and we'd have to turn around,
but Dick was sure that there was a trail that went around the side of the falls.
Let me reiterate that we had been here before and Dick more times than I.
He knew there was another trail around the side.
So he decided that he would walk on ahead of me, because by this time, I had greatly slowed us down.
So I was just kind of walking at a slow pace and Dick had gone ahead, I was trying to keep him in sight, but I just couldn't walk fast enough.  So I just went at my pace and thought he'd find me on the path and wouldn't have to walk so far to catch up with me.

So the trail got smaller and a little non-path like =)
And then I came across a huge tree.....fallen on the path.....
this tree was So big that I couldn't go under it, because I can't crawl on these knees,
and it was so big that I couldn't get over it because if I had I'd had to jump off the tree to get down.
*sigh*
So I figured I better get back to the path I knew was a path and wait for Dick.
I didn't like being seperated and decided that had been a bad idea.
So I sat down on a tree root on the path I knew was a path and prayed.
And then I waited .....
I wasn't scared..... I knew Mr. Winslow would move heaven and earth to find me....
God gave me peace.....
It was about 5:00 and in the woods we knew it would start getting dark soon.....
So I waited for Dick.....
And pretty soon here he came.....
What a beautiful sight!! 
I was so happy to see him.....
He said he'd even tried to call me..... but our cell phones had no signal down under the mountain.....
But when he got to me he said, "This is very bad news....."
It was a dead end.
Again.
So we headed back down the falls trail.
A very long way back down the falls trail.....

So when we got back down to the place where the above fishing pole is, we saw some campers building a fire for night fall.....
We asked which way to go and they told us what they thought,
so we headed in another direction and then came across some other campers and talked to them and they told us to go back by the campers we'd just asked and take that path.....
Ok.
So now we just weren't sure......but we knew this for sure.....
we were lost.
And it was going to get dark.

So we went by those campers and on that path for quite a while and then came to a huge tree in the middle of the path.  At this point Dick said, "I cannot believe this!" 
So we went around the tree and this is where we ended up.
Yes this was not good.....
It was full of stickers and poison ivy, oak and probably any other type of deep wood poison....
Then we looked up the hill and there was the path we were to be on and so to get to it we had to climb out of this place. 
no path.
just stickers, thorns, poison, mosiquotos and remember we'd already seen a tarantula.....
EEK!
So here is my Mr. Winslow, climbing out of here.  If you look closely you can see the top of this thing where the trail is, it was way up there.....
So when he got up there he hollered down that this is where we needed to be and I was going to have to climb up there.....
Ummm.....okay.....
So I headed through all this craziness to Dick.....
When you got to the top it was like sand and you literally had to crawl your way up,
digging your nails and everything else for that matter into the sand and dirt to get on up to the path.
Dick saw I was in trouble, so he climbed down a little ways and grabbed a tree, and handed me his hand.....
So I took it and held on for dear life and as I grabbed onto a little tree with my other hand,
Dick said THAT'S POISON!!! 
terrific.
So yes I put my hand in poison and we had nothing to clean it off with.....
terrific.
Well, Dick pulled me up and then I saw what he was holding onto.
a twig people.  a twig.
He corrected me and told me it was a sapling.
It was a twig.
God was holding onto that tree, that Dick was holding onto, and I was holding onto him.
If not, that tree would have given way, and me Dick and the tree would have made our way back down the thorny, poisoning mountainside the hard way!

 

So now we are on the right path.....
Out of water, but happy we had found this path.....
And then Dick started seeing familiar sights.....
I was SO happy!
And he saw the Falls Path that he knew was there. 
He was so frustrated.
If we could have found that, we could have saved ourselves.....
MILES.
anyway.....

About this time I looked up and saw the moon.
It was almost full.
Again I saw God's provision for us. 
So we walked.....
and walked.....
and walked.....
And then had to start climbing......
and by this time we are well out of the little water we'd had.  
We were thirsty and bone tired.  
but happy to be getting out of here,
but let me tell you.....
the climb was CRAZY!!!!!
We found a rythm though.  
Mr. Winslow had my hand and everytime we came to a rock stair we had to climb up,
he'd go up first and then pull me up.....
so tiring for him I know, but my legs and hips were just spent and we still had a very long way to go.
We were not at our .8 mile marker yet.....
It was going to be awhile.....
much longer than we knew at the time......
before we would get to the car.....
a very long, adventerous time.....

So yes,  I must put you on hold again.....

But let me kind of set the stage for you.....
It is now about 7:30 PM and we had been hiking since 12:30 PM, and we had been out of water for a very long time.
We were so tired and thirsty.
And hurting.
And we were still walking.....
We kept saying to each other:
Spirit over flesh, Spirit over flesh.
We knew God was with us.
He never left us.
And this story is about to take a very hard turn.....
We never left His sight.

To be cont'd.....

3 comments:

  1. OH.MY.GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    you can totally come do a half marathon with me in the next few weeks because that adventure makes 13.1 miles look like NOTHING.. we at least get WATER :)

    Oh my friend - I panic thinking you two out there... LOST! How you stayed calm amazes me. Talk about SPAT OF THE WEEK? RIcky & I would be kicking each other the whole way!!!

    Cant wait to hear more!

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  2. Goodness gracious. Just like reading a suspense novel. Glad (so far) y'all were safe.

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  3. Dawn, I'm so thankful that you and Dick are ok. Dick takes such good care of you. After getting caught up with you, I see God's grace and his hand of protection all over both of you. This looks like an absolutely beautiful place, Love to see it sometime.
    Atleast all of your pictures. Love you.

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