Almost there

This photo was taken when my family went on a hike to the Cascades water fall in Catawba Virginia. This 2 mile walk should have taken no more than 40 minutes, but ended up taking two hours. My husband, middle grandchild and myself chose the hard rocky uphill trail by mistake when we wanted to walk up the smooth path. This photo comes after 120 minutes of uphill climbing over rocks, boulders, and on narrow legends. We had no cell phone service, it rained gently for a little bit and our feet slipped on muddy paths several times. It felt as if we would never make it but we continued our journey. We saw people on their way back down to the parking area at random intervals who gave us estimates of how much longer we had to go.

The final mile took about 35 minutes but felt like an hour. The last half mile was about 20 minutes but seemed as though it were 45. When we finally were about two blocks away we could see our destination before us. We had only been able to imagine the beauty of Cascades water fall, but now could see it from a distance. I wanted to leap for joy but in wisdom I did not, as I was convernef about losing my footing. I imagined we were like Dorothy and her friends in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ when they emerged from all the dangers of the woods and the Emerald City was in sight. I wished I could run as they did but that was not possible. Instead the image was snapped of our first sighting of the falling water.

The song ‘Out of the Woods’ from The Wizard of Oz comes to mind. The lyrics are:

You're out of the woods, you're out of the dark, you're our of the night,

Step into the sun, step into the light.

Keep straight ahead for the most glorious place on the face of the earth or the sky....

At the moment the water fall came into view, I understood fully the joy and delight of Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and little Toto. My feet and legs were wet midway to my knees. I had almost twisted my ankle twice and at one point was not certain we would make it on a narrow cliff ledge.

The sight of the white water falling, and seeing the clear sunny sky just above was glorious. As we walked up the foggy trail surrounded by the trees and bushes on the mountain we could not see the sun shining. Ths photo was snapped at the precise moment our Enerald City was in my sight. Unlike the characters in The Wizard of Oz, however, we could not kick up our heels and rush to our destination. Unknown to us from this view, there were still hills to climb, slippery rocks to step across and muddy paths to tread through. As we continued walking there were a few times the water falls was no longer in sight but the closer we got, the stronger the sound of the falling water and the fresh air became.

You can see what appears to be a smooth path in the image it looks as though we could simply turn a corner and walk a bit and just be there. ‘This was only a deception. It appears as if it is a straight shot to the water falls but as we walked closer towards the Cascades, it was bushy and pretty treacherous on the left,and this is where the new challenges began. The photo gives an illusion and does not reveal the hidden snares. At the point where the picture was taken, I wanted to wave my hand in the gesture of “come on” like the Scarecrow and run with all my might. Although I could not physically do this in my heart I was definitely feeling it. From the moment we stepped out of the shadows of the trees and Forrest and into the light, everything changed.

At the moment this photo was snapped the musky smell of wet trees, mold, sticks, and grass disappeared. The air was fresh and cool and my sinuses cleared up. Looking at that white water falling let me know that our taking the wrong path and enduring a longer harsher trail was worth it. The Enerald City was in full view and we were going to see the Wizard of Oz. This photo captured everything I had been believing for and I had not known until 2 weeks earlier that there was a water fall less than an hour’s drive from my home. This image from the clearing is my proof that it all is very real. Making it to the falls and seeing it up close was truly exciting. For me, however, it was not as thrilling and mesmerizing as the moment I took the picture, when it all first came into view.