PLAYING INJURED
In the Stanley Cup hockey playoffs, players frequently keep playing when they are injured (assuming the injury is not too horribly serious – like a broken leg). The Stanley Cup is that important to them and their team. They can heal later over the summer. I do not watch too much of other sports, though perhaps this happens in other sports as well, but not in baseball – if a player sprains their pinky finger in baseball, they are out of the lineup for at least 4 weeks. With the big snowpack, this year is my Stanley Cup playoffs. I have to keep playing (hiking), even if I am injured – assuming the injury is not a broken leg. Well guess what? I am injured. It started with a mysterious pain in my arm last week – which is no big deal for hiking. Now it has spread to my leg. If I twist or turn the leg in a certain way, the pain is horrific and I am on the floor, howling in agony. Well don’t turn it that way you fool! I have no idea what it is or how it started. I don’t think I did it hiking or at the gym but maybe it is from that, but if it does not get better soon, I may have to go to the doctor. If this was last year, perhaps I would be resting for a few weeks. Not this year though, I have to keep on playing. I can heal in the Fall. I have a big huge and epic hike planned for this coming weekend. Let’s just pray I make it up the mountain and back down again.
Getting back to last weekend before my leg pain started … when I studied Google Earth in this area of the Potholes, I realized there was a second waterfall just a bit downstream from the popular upper Potholes. The upper Potholes may be well known and very popular, but who knew about these lower falls? It looked easy enough to get to, so off I went after photographing the upper falls.
It was a short jaunt downstream, hopping along the granite rock. The last part was a bit steep, but not too difficult. Clearly people have been down here, judging by the man-made rock cairns – unless they were bear-made. I did distinctly smell an animal as I descended. Is there a lion watching me from somewhere? I saw nothing. I suppose the cairns were likely man-made, nonetheless, I think the vast majority of people who go to the upper Potholes have no clue there is another waterfall downstream. This one is smaller, 27 ft. high, but still quite a pretty waterfall, especially with the high flow in the river. There was far too much mist right at river level, so I stepped back a bit, and changed my composition.
I thought I would have quite a bit of time before the sun came up, yet there I could see it starting to pop up over the horizon, just above the waterfall. It is rare that I get lighting conditions like this, and I took advantage of it, stopping down my aperture to create a sunstar effect, and waiting out the perfect light. I took quite a few photos, but this was the best one. I like it.