Short Springs - Part 2

I spent a long time at the waterfall taking pictures, looking at the layers of rock that made up the walls of the gorge I was now standing deep inside, listening to the roar of the falls, enjoying the colorful trees, skipping from rock to rock in a fruitless effort to keep my feet dry.

It was a very warm late afternoon and I soon abandoned the half hearted effort..

I wore Salomon trail running shoes throughout the years that I was adventure racing.

AR is a sport in which wet feet simply comes with the territory and most racers soon learned quickly (usually through painful trial and error) to not bother wearing GoreTex waterproof shoes.

They worked fine as long as the water level was low, but if water got up and over the top and then into your shoes your feet were done for. 

Blisters would quickly ensue and then things would get ugly.

So most racers simply wore shoes that drained well. 

Feet got wet.  Shoes drained.  Feet dried.

Short Springs is only 5 or 6 miles from Rutledge Falls:

http://livingthejuneauadventure.blogspot.com/2011/10/rutledge-falls.html

And although I am not 100% certain, I believe that yesterday I was looking at the same body of water, only further downstream.

Regardless, I love Rutledge Falls and yesterday I remembered how much I love Short Springs...................

Water everywhere around me.

The falls, the stream, runoff filtering through all the nooks and crannies and crevices in every single rock in this rock-filled place...................

Fall in a beautiful natural space only a few miles from town.............

A view of the bridge back in the direction I had come, and where I saw the three teenagers standing and laughing easily with each other................

The few times I have been here in the past I have always spent only a short while at the falls before crossing the bridge, and climbing up and out of the gorge.

The trail picks up on the opposite side of the stream, and leads up to other trails that surround this area............

Views of the stream looking from both sides of the bridge..............

A very huge and very old tree base................

That leads to these two tall and thin trunks.................

Intending to turn back from the bridge and head back up the rocks steps, I on the spur-of-the-moment decided to wander down yet one more leaf-filled trail.

I had never walked the trail before (and was already going to arrive back at the house later than planned) but was curious where it led and decided to explore it anyway.

It was not a long trail and I was both surprised and pleased to realize that the stream that I had been photographing only a few minutes before actually fed into another larger stream.

How could I have not seen this place before?

I had no idea but was glad that I had unexpectedly found it during this trip................

Still warm enough for these small and very fragile wildflowers to be growing and thriving..............

Heading back towards the long and steep and uneven rock steps that would take me up and out of the gorge............

The remains of an ancient tree stump..............

If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments.
...........Anne Morrow Lindbergh