Secret Falls

Day 213: A few days ago, I took a walk up to Secret Falls. That's my name for it, anyway. USGS doesn't feel it merits a designation. Why "Secret?" Even though it's less than 50 yards from Westside Road, its 20-foot cascade almost entirely hidden from view by virtue of being around a corner of rock, and anyone who hears it as they walk by raises their eyes to a more visible upper tier which they assume is its voice. The stream which feeds it originates in the Lake Allen basin, although not the lake itself which, incidentally, is only accessible by those committed to serious cross-country navigation. I have been to the lake once, and having found a fresh cougar-killed deer (the carcase still steaming), I decided once was sufficient. However, my sense of adventure is strong enough to sometimes make me forget my age, and Wednesday's excursion found me climbing a steep, mossy slope in an attempt to reach the upper tier of the falls. About halfway there, I had a "mortality moment" (rare for me) and as I looked back down that which I had climbed, the Common Sense Demon on my left shoulder advised, "You're getting yourself in over your head for not having told anyone you might be up here." I cast one last longing glance in the direction of the upper falls (no longer visible from my vantage point) and carefully inched my way back down the slope, trying to remember where I'd seen bare, slick rock showing through thin places in the moss. Perhaps another day and a different route will take me there, when I've filed a flight plan with a friend.