(written on the 20th/21st)
I think I mentioned something about expecting police to kick me out of my parking spot?
I think it was like 1:30 in the morning, or something like that, and I was still awake when I saw the familiar super bright headlights flood the parking lot, The telltale sign of the police having arrived. 🙃
What I didn’t expect, was for them to do a loop around my van at a fairly high rate of speed for a parking lot, and then just leave. 🤔
But I’ll take it!
So I stayed in the same parking spot for the night.
I was back to my struggling to get out of the van for the morning and early afternoon, but I finally pried myself out, just on the side of the road on the east side of Upper Falls Park, packed up my little backpack and headed up.
It was a beautiful day, though later in the day. I probably should have started the hike in the morning, so I could spend more time up there, but whatever.
I headed up the normal way that I’ve generally gone up, which is a bit sketchy but not bad. Over the years, other people have found the spot and used it fairly frequently, by the looks of it, as I can see that the bouldering path is marked by smooth rocks from all of the people climbing the same route over the years.
Fortunately, it’s still a rarity for me to actually see somebody else up there. So the people who do go up there are not there very often.
As usual, it was absolutely beautiful up there. There was more water than I would have expected for the time of year, maybe? but that’s probably because there was a pretty good rain storm through there just a few days ago.
The main Falls that you see from the road and the brief hike up to its base is the product of three smaller tributaries all combining together. Just above the first Cascade of the two Cascades of upper Falls, two of the tributaries that combine to a single stream joined with the Maine tributary to make the Falls.
If my directions are correct, from the Main two-tier Falls at the bottom, One of the two main tributaries that feed it goes west up the mountainside fairly sharply, splits into two separate tributaries in two separate mini canyons and continues up the side of the mountain, again, quite sharply. The Southern branch of those two little canyons that each contain a tributary goes up and up and up and up the mountain/ cliffside and then just disappears.
In the past and continuing to the present, I’ve wanted to hike/ climb that Branch as high as I could go to see if the water is just straight up coming out of the cliffside, or if a whole bunch of little tiny springs are coming out of the cliffside here and there and joining together to make that set of Cascades.
It’s an absolutely beautiful place. I’ve probably mentioned it before, but where are those two little micro canyons joined together, the two little tributaries or whatever you call them joined together as well, and there’s a place where you can stand in the middle of the flowing water and look up both little micro canyons at the same time and just see waterfall after waterfall after waterfall on each side as they descend from the heights above dropping down several different Cascades each to join together where you stand in the middle of the slowing water.
I tried to take pictures, but this time I was too chicken to get myself into the middle of the creek, as it’s really smooth rock, and it’s covered in algae and a bit slippery, and if you slip, then you end up most likely sliding down And over the next Falls which is probably a 15 or 20-ft Cascade into a pile of rocks.
😬
In the past, I’ve cleaned the algae off the rock and taken the risk of getting out into the middle of the creek /stream, but these days, I’m a bit more risk averse.
I wandered all around that area, enjoying the many many many different Cascades. They range from just little things maybe 8 or 10 ft tall to larger Cascades that are maybe 50 or 60 ft tall.
I think I was a teenager when I first went up there. I have a vague memory of going with a bunch of my friends way back in the ’90s.
My perspective on life is so much different now than it was then. I never really gave much thought in the world to the future and taking care of myself.
The invincibility of youth.
I didn’t really ever get injured much, which is I guess partly why I wonder why I have all these nerve and disc and arthritis issues.
I can recall a few minor injuries. I remember jumping off of maybe a 10 or 12 ft wall onto the ground and tweaking my back when I was probably 16. I don’t remember it being a lingering pain, just I felt a tweak in my back that hurt a bit.
Then there was the time that I Dove off of a tree into a pond and totally skipped a cog in my brain and instead of keeping my arms out in front of me put my arms at my sides which probably accelerated my descent through the water , and I ended up hitting my head on the bottom of the pond. I heard my neck crunch, and I think there was some soreness for maybe a day? I don’t remember.
I can’t place when that was. It was when I was living in Provo, but I can’t remember whether I was a teenager or in my twenties? Could have even been my early thirties…
The only other injury that I can remember that could be related I doubt is related, and that came while sliding down the glacier on the back side of timpanogos. I got up a pretty significant amount of speed and proceeded to hit a rock that I didn’t see. I hit hard enough I think to break my tailbone (I never got it x-rayed, but the pain was severe, all right in my tailbone area), but I can’t imagine how that would cause any issues with the rest of my spine.
Anyway, so I’m a lot more reticent to do risky things these days, so I didn’t try very hard to accomplish my goal of following that Southern Branch as high as I could go. It was later in the afternoon, so there wasn’t much time, and I didn’t want to take the risks that would have needed to have been taken to take the shortcut route by just trying to climb straight up little cliffs here and there.
Not up for the risk.
One of my brothers suggested that we get together in the evening and enjoy a fire and food and what not, and at first, I had declined the invitation, my mental health not being so great, not wanting to be around people. But after enjoying a few hours in that beautiful place, re-exploring so many of the waterfalls I’ve loved for so many years, And taking a waterfall shower 🙃, I was feeling better and reached out to my brother to see if the invitation was still open.
It was. 😊
So I let him know that I was up for it, and just hung out on the mountainside for a while, descending below all the more sketchy places, and then finally just heading on down.
We built a fire up South Fork Canyon, a little ways further up Provo Canyon. We ended up building the fire in the exact same spot where, 15 years prior, I had had a bonfire with many of my students, parents, and some of my fellow teachers as part of a little fireside/activity.
My brother brought the wood and food and whatnot, and i provided the lighter.
I also burned a bunch of old bank records, further reducing the amount of crap that I have.
It was nice to spend time with my brother. He’s always very kind to me and very encouraging.
We wrapped up our Little campfire well after dark, he putting most everything away, and A buying to gather water from the little mountain stream to put out our fire As well as the coals of the leftover fire from the people next to us who didn’t put their fire out before they left.
From the canyon, I drove back through Orem and Linden to pleasant Grove where I stayed the night in the Maverik 24-Hour gas station.
Thank you, Maverik.
- I’m grateful for Maverik
- I’m grateful for the strength to get out of my van today and go enjoy beautiful places
- I’m grateful that those beautiful places are still relatively isolated and provide a measure of solitude because of the difficulty in getting to them.
- I’m grateful for running boards. I didn’t realize when we parked at the South Fork parking lot, I parked Jared right in the middle of a huge puddle, but fortunately he had a running board that he could climb on to get out of and back into his truck, and I had one as well that I could use to climb into the side of my van when I needed to grab something out of the side.
- I’m grateful that I was able to get my MRI stuff pre-notified with my insurance people and that they said there wasn’t going to be any problem with me doing the MRIs and having them be shareable into the health-sharing ministry. I think I’ll still need to cover most, if not all of the cost of the MRIs because I think my deductible started over in July, but that’s fine.
Lift the world.
~ stephen
Lift the World 