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Wade into a Waterfall
The trail head is only 4 miles away from campus and I’ve heard of classmates who’ve biked there for the hike, and then biked back to campus. It’s a short hike - only about 3 miles round trip - but I started out at around 3 pm and got back around 6 pm because I took an extra leisurely pace…
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For part of the trail, I wandered off main path along the narrower paths up the hills. These small paths branched in several areas and I was careful to take the paths going in the general direction of the main trail. It made me feel like a true adventurer. Eventually I made my way back to the main trail, where the sound of laughter and splashing caught my attention. Some teenagers were splashing down the river along the trail. Tempted, I went down and river hopped upstream along the river with my bare feet, stepping on the round warm boulders where I can, and letting the cool stream wash over my feet other times.
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The waterfall was pretty, and I waded under it for a few seconds, admired the view for a while, then started my way back. Unfortunately, I was so enraptured by my phone as I got closer to civilization and got signal back that somehow I found the path getting narrower and narrower… I had accidentally gotten lost off the main trail. Fortunately, I felt relatively safe because I knew the trail intersected with the river upstream somewhere near the beginning. Unfortunately, I overshot that intersection and had to make my way up the hill a ways and finding a path back. Finally, I was able to follow the yellow (flower) road back.