Wednesday, May 2.

We had breakfast at the cabin, and prepared for what we knew was going to be the toughest day of the trip. There are two very strenuous distance hikes in the park, and we wanted to do at least one of them on this trip. We chose the Ramsey Cascade’s trail, because it seemed that it would be the easier of the two, on paper. The waterfalls at the end of the trail are the tallest in the park. The last photo doesn’t do them justice, they are about 60-70 feet tall.

We arrived around 9:15 am at the parking lot at the trail head. The trail is about 4 linear miles one way, and we knew from what we had read that it was uphill most of the way to the falls. While I had not really trained for this kind of hike, I was confident. After all, this is not one of the trails chosen by the Navy SEALs for BUDs training. So we set off with the idea that we would be back to the car by mid afternoon.

We got back to the car a little over 9 hours later.

There is about a 2,200 elevation change one way. I was carrying over 40 lbs of camera gear, with plantar fasciitis in my right foot, two herniated discs in my back, and a surgically repaired right knee. But, none of that stopped me. It just meant that the going was slow. And it was for all of us. We had to make numerous stops on the way up. And when I say it is uphill, it’s steep in several spots. And, the last 1/8 of a mile was basically climbing over and around huge boulders, there wasn’t really a “trail.”

 

We brought provisions for the hike. It was one bottle of water for each of us, and one granola bar. For the entire day. By the time I had gotten to the 3 mile mark (going up), my granola bar was gone. And I finished the water before I got to the waterfalls. So, there were no provisions at all for the return hike.

When we finally got to the falls, Cathie had already sat down on the big rock in front of the falls. I put my gear down, and lay down flat on the rock on my stomach. I didn’t kiss the rock, but it was the same idea.

Cathie christened this “the hike from hell.” I will not disagree. She and I also made a suicide pact on the way back down. It was brutal. My legs were hardly holding me up as we were heading back down the trail. I tripped over my own feet, over rocks, branches, tree roots, you name it. And you know what? I would do it again. Because with all this being said, the pay off was incredible. And even with all this, there were spots that were achingly beautiful along the way. They had put narrow log bridges across some sections of the stream. I paused at these just lose myself in the moment, the water rushing below, the wind in the trees, and no other ambient sounds. In those moments, I truly understand what John Muir meant when he said “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares drop away from you like the leaves of autumn.”

I used up everything I had that day on that hike. It took my legs several days to really recover from it. Walking was not easy, but even worse was the hill we had to walk up and down to get to and from our cabin. And the stairs in the cabin to and from my bedroom really, really sucked. But these were just muscle aches. My foot, back and knee held up fine.

It was a day we all will never forget.