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House Trip to Mist Falls and mortality moment 2/17/08 Posted by airdrum (2008-02-19)

Well with the weather so great I decided to show the housemates just why Linds and I come home caked in mud so often and decided on the easy short Mist Falls bushwhack/trail for Sunday.  I figured we'd have a nice picnic or something.  Kudos to Steve for his EXACT directions in the field guide, wow when he says 2.2 miles he means 2.200000  We made our way up there ok, there are a few blowdowns to negotiate and the infamous talus slope but it's not really a problem.  When we got up there we found ice STILL leftover on the cliff face from the deep freeze weeks ago.  We made our way to the base but unfortunately some small softball chuncks of ice broke off, almost fell on our heads so we decided to move to the other, ice free side of the creek. The water was beautiful in the wind, it just danced and sprinkled across the rocks, separating into many small waterfalls near the bottom. Heres a vid of us going to cross the creek, now, about 15 seconds after i stopped filming, a massive chunck of ice broke off, hit the ground with a thunderous blast, and broke into pieces, some small ones got launched into the air, the larger chunks began rocketing down the slope, right at us! http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1294578727557504313 I was third from the top and able to see the big ones coming so I tried to shout but was mostly speechless and frozen in primal fear.  Reanne, at the top along with Suzanna did all they really could do and just ducked and protected their heads.  Miraculously, three 50-75 lb chuncks of ice dodged them, two went to the right, one to the left.  WOW!  We were all a little trembling and basically made a mad dash to safety after that. Here is a photo of reanne next to one of the chunks that almost sent her home with some broken bones and eventually rolled a hundred feet down the slope Eventually we breaked for lunch high up on the east side of the creek.  I scrambled up more to grab a couple of photos and a video. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9125877484804026010 And, for anyone interested in visiting mist falls, here is a video which gives a good sens of the terrain.  It is us scrambling back through the ice drop zone to gain the trail on the way out. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=697994832801339149 I reccommend this hike, it's a good time and a very cool falls.  Try and go after a month or two of thawing though!

Re: House Trip to Mist Falls and mortality moment 2/17/08 Posted by Stevefromdodge (2008-02-19)

Andy, your videos do a great job of capturing the terrain. I've seen a lot of photographs of the area and none of them capture the sheer treachery of the footing the way your videos do. What looks like a somewhat steep slope in a still picture is really a crumbling exercise in balance and strength! I visited there in the spring and my worry staggering around on all of those rocks had to do with their point of origin. After all, these rocks weren't created right there, awaiting some fool like me (or us) to trip over them. At one time every one of those rocks was a falling missile. I didn't have to worry about falling ice, as well. Oh by the way, it's really 2.2004 miles, but I was a afraid that level of accuracy would make me seem like a geek!

Re: House Trip to Mist Falls and mortality moment 2/17/08 Posted by AlexanderSupertramp (2008-02-19)

Once again, great shots Andy. Did you get a glimpse of the fireplace? F.decorate(_ge('button_bar'), F._photo_button_bar).bar_go_go_go(2277927599, 0);

Re: House Trip to Mist Falls and mortality moment 2/17/08 Posted by fettster (2008-02-19)

Yikes, glad you all survived that.  That's nuts for it being such a nice day out.  The photos almost remind me of Asia for some reason, nice job!

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