My family loves hiking, which usually entails going to waterfalls. I love their beauty and photographing them.
When I am doing this, my kids, now 18 and 22, still climb rocks, and my husband relaxes with his iPhone. This particular day neither of our kids were with us–just Paul and me.
We had purchased the book, Waterfall Hikes of North Georgia. It gives detailed information on the various falls and also includes photographs. We looked at the book and found several waterfalls in the area we were visiting.
The last waterfall we visited was Horse Trough Falls. The book showed three separate photos shot all on the same trail. We had difficulty finding the waterfall, as the trail markers were a little confusing.
Finally, we found all three falls. Two problems arose, the last waterfall photo I saw was down at least a 60-foot embankment at about a 65 to 70-degree slope, and I had my mind set on getting to it.
There wasn’t a trail, only a clearing where the water runoff went into the stream below. It was an adventure getting down, and I slipped twice. Muddy, but we finally made it.
I was disappointed in the photographs I took. It wasn’t a beautiful waterfall, and I wasn’t able to capture its essence. All the work of getting there to ended in disappointment.
We decided to go up a different embankment, which was even steeper. Paul headed up first, and I followed. We got about two-thirds the way up, and I could not go any farther. The 20 pounds of equipment in my backpack made it impossible to continue on such a steep slope.
Paul made it to the top, and I took a shortcut straight over to the other trail where we were earlier. The trail was covered in vegetation that kept me from noticing the ledge I was now stuck on. I did not have another safe place to put my foot, so I squatted down and inched along.
I started to pray because of the peril I had gotten myself into. I was very concerned for my safety and knew that if I fell, I could seriously hurt myself.
I called out to Paul, and he came back down near me. He grabbed onto a tree with one hand and with the other held out a walking stick for me to grab. I had to totally trust him with all of my weight to pull me up. There was no backup plan.
We made it up safely, but it was a day I will never forget. The fear I felt; the mess I got myself into.
Is there a mess you have gotten yourself into? If you were stuck on a ledge, would you know who to call out to? Jesus is right there for you!
