THE TRADITION
REI thinks they are leading some sort of innovation with their #optoutside and not opening on Black Friday. Well I have news for them, they are not. I have been hiking on Black Friday for years. It has always been my favorite day of the year to hike. I know many of you also already opt outside on this day.
I don’t get why they are doing this anyway. They’re just losing money. I personally don’t care if people like to shop on Black Friday. In fact I prefer it. Then I won’t see anyone on the trails.
But either way I knew I wouldn’t see anyone on the trail where I was going on this Black Friday (and I didn’t).
Last time I was up in this area I was hiking with a bad back. That was not cool. I also saw a fisher. That was very cool. Neither of those things were true today. It was, however, only 10 degrees outside. Too cool (literally). It was so cold I put on an extra sweater for the hike. I knew I would be shedding it and have to carry it. Not cool. Sure enough less than a mile in I was sweating and I had to take it off. Oh well. At least I was warm for that first mile.
It occurred to me (after I had driven 150 miles to get here) that the creek might be completely frozen, which would mean no waterfall. That would most certainly suck. Fortunately though, it was not and it did have decent (but not great) flow.
After three miles or so my road ended at a creek crossing. The road actually continued on the other side but there was a huge dropoff. The ground was very icy and I just could not climb up the other side in a safe manner. I spent a lot of time trying but finally gave up. Not to be deterred though, I backtracked a half mile and crossed where it was less steep, then climbed up the other side eventually getting back to the road. Now I was worried about the inevitable descent back down to the creek, which would undoubtedly be icy and steep. Plus I was worried about the sun. I only had til 9:30 before the sun would be on the falls. Time was running out.
I came to the descent. It didn’t look too bad. Down I went … until the very last section I came to a cliff right above the falls. Seriously? All this way for nothing? I contemplated about what to do, and I almost gave up.
But again I was not deterred. I got out my rope and descended down to the creek. Not down the cliff! There was a slope down, it was very steep and as I said the ground was hard and icy but I carefully made it down. I could not have done it without the rope. Once down I realized I had to cross the creek to get the best view of the falls. You do understand that the water was freezing! It was very slippery too, but I made it across safely. Such a gorgeous 25 ft cascade in this remote canyon, and a stunning emerald green pool it dropped into. It was a fantastic Black Friday for me! And I saw absolutely no one all day.