Douglas Falls
Good morning, cats & kittens! I am in the Alleghenies, enjoying the mountains, forests, and streams. Yesterday, much of the morning was lost, as I had to move my tent so the campground service crew could come and remove a dead tree before it fell on top of me. Then I had to set up camp all over again before I could begin the day's excursion. But when I did get out to explore with a camera, it was a productive day.
Along a trail following the North Fork of the Blackwater River there are waterfalls. This of course is not unexpected, where water is flowing down a mountain. At Douglas Falls, I managed to climb down the steep embankment from the trail above to the river below the falls, and oh you betcha the falls were flowing. There has been a lot of rain the the region, and it is still ongoing.
After I reached the base of the falls, I slowly moved downstream, clambering over rocks and trees. In my mind I could hear my wife chiding me about some of the risks I was taking, but I could visualize how the scene would appear from a spot downstream, and slightly out over the river, from a viewpoint on a tree leaning out over the edge. It wasn't easy for an aging, overweight doofus to get there, but I was very happy with the view.
Today, 15 October, is my anniversary. It was forty-eight years ago today that a beautiful, bright, sweet young woman married me. As I walk in the woods today, I will feel her with me, as I do everywhere, every day. Wanda loved the mountains, and the woods, and every year we would take a vacation to places like this. They were times we treasured. Times of blissful, shared solitude. Times we held sacred. And that is why I continue to schedule a little getaway every year in mid-October. Happy anniversary once again, my love. I feel your presence even as I feel your absence.