Rather typical, plans did not turn out as expected. We had this great plan to spend the week at the beach followed by a trip to the Columbia Gorge and see Multnomah Falls.
Well, we slept in (no snickering laughs, you!) and I decided, why not see the Gorge that day since it's only half an hour away. So we left behind the suitcase and drove beyond Portland into the beautiful Columbia Gorge. If you ever come up here, you must experience this drive.
We got to Multnomah Falls, which Matt had never seen but I've been to once. It's the second tallest perennial fall in the US, and you can see it from I-84, really amazing! It's romantic, watching the waterfall and standing on Benson footbridge that crosses the pool which separates the first fall from the second. Lots of people get married on this footbridge. It's very romantic if you can ignore all the tourists.
Well, then we decide, let's take the one-mile hike to the top of the falls. We're young, we've marched Hollywood Christmas Parade for crying out loud, we can do a one-mile hike.
(Can you hear the ominous thunderclap yet?)
Well, this trail is not at all difficult. It's made for tourists, paved good, well kept, has benches at the halfway point, offers some great views, but it is quite steep. If you're in fair shape, it's doable. Tourists travel it all the time, even little kids. However, Matt is a self-proclaimed "mouse potato" and I badly injured my knee two years ago. I didn't think anything of it. I mean, that was years ago, right?
(Surely you hear the ominous thunderclap now!)
So, we made it to the top. You really can't see over the edge, but you can see where the water dumps over, and "Little Mulnomah" Falls just before the big drop. Being the adventurous idiot I am, I kept going off the trails (ignoring signs all over not to do such a thing) and I was just about to jump over the railing and peek right over the edge of that waterfall. Luckily, I have a strong husband who knows me too well. He would not let me hop the railing. Boo on him, but it was probably a good thing.
Then... came walking down the trail. No more than a hundred yards of that sharp decline, and I feel a stabbing at my knee, then the quick instinctual reaction of muscles tightening around inflamed tendons, making the whole joint stiffen. We jokes about needing a ranger to helicopter me out, and just pushed on. The more we went, the worse the pain got. Soon, I couldn't bend my knee at all. It was on fire! Matt was holding on to me because I kept losing balance.
And then I heard the pop!
*cue ominous thunderclap!!!!*
I knew that sound too well, ingrained in my memory from the injury I took at work in 2004. A loud pop, loud enough for others around me to hear, a pain in the knee, then everything seems okay... until you take a step forward. It happened two years ago, and it happened again. I waited for the initial pain to go away, then tried taking a step. And then I nearly fell.
There was no way I could go on, we were still 3/4 of a mile away, and it was almost night. Well, Matt wasn't about to leave me alone on the trail, we had no clue who we could call (plus we were so far out, our cell phones probably wouldn't have worked), and I was being my usual stubborn-ass self, so I pushed on.
30 degree grade, night quickly making everything dark, bugs coming out for the night (and a snake which I almost stepped on), no more tourists on the trail, and I'm holding onto Matt, putting almost my whole weight on this poor boy who hadn't done any hiking since he was a boyscout, whose idea of a workout is walking across the street to the pub.
Well, I'm sure you've seen enough movies to know how this turned out. Me hobbling, barely able to put any weight on my left leg, yet having no other choice but keep going, Matt realizing he had muscles he never knew existed, darkness all around, forest noises creeping us out. What was supposed to be a simple one-mile trail took us almost a full five hours to finish. We got back to the car some time after eight. We went to a nice restaurant, enjoyed the rest of the night, got back home, and crashed!
Next morning comes... and so does the pull brunt of the pain. Matt's muscles wage a rebellion, my knee refuses to bend, Ibuprofen becomes more holy than the Shroud, and out comes the booze to dull the pain. A jug of rum and a few beers later, we're both hobbling like a bunch of old fogies. No way we can make it to the beach, nor do we have any desire to do anything besides rest and sleep.
And that was our anniversary, romantic and painful, but not in any S&M way. We're still recovering. Matt seems to be walking better, but my knee is pretty bad off. I can't go see a doctor, because I'm not on Matt's insurance yet and we have no money. So I keep it heated and iced, Matt waits on me, I get to lay around and read.
Wait a minute.... this has turned out to be a pretty damn good anniversary after all!!!!
Here are some pictures we took.
The view from across the highway. I wonder how many truckers even notice it's there.
As best of the entire height as I could get. It's VERY tall.
As best of the entire height as I could get. It's VERY tall.
Here I am!
Handsome!
Matt said my hair looked like a waterfall.
Looking down from the footbridge at the secondary falls.
We had some great views of the Columbia Gorge on the way up.
There were signs everywhere not to go off the path. When do I ever follow directions
But lookie what I found. Purdy!
This is the first of the three falls, at the very top of the big falls. Matt was getting creative with time lapse and stuff.
Looking down from the very very top of the falls. You really can't see OVER it, not without climbing out of the observation deck (which I nearly did and Matt stopped me, he was worried I'd slip) so I just reached out as far as I could with the camera and snapped.
The two of us at the top lookout. Notice I'm already taking pressure off my left leg.
It was very late by the time we got down, but Matt still wanted to take some pictures. I think this was the halfway marker or something, since there's still some gloaming light. It's really weird how the water seems to light up at night, considering there are no lights around, not even on the trail, which was very frightening, I'll tell ya!
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