The Biggest Waterfall Ever aka Hike Up Memory Canyon

Written retrospectively on Jan 23, 2012
This summer whilst my sister and her clan were out visiting, she and her husband decided they really wanted to go visit Scipio, the primordial ooze-land of the Monroe family. They specifically wanted to get a good feel of the land dad spent so much time in ranching and farming, they wanted to go on a hike, hit the cemetery and just a good old fashioned immersion in family history. It was a huge success.

at the bottom

The big event was going on a hike up the canyon where my dad used to drive the cattle for the summer. First, we drove up to "The Grove" a little spot of paradise in a forsaken desert land I didn't know existed. That in itself made the whole trip worth it. Then we left that little Eden and snaked our way up a very rocky, narrow path (I could in no way imagine cattle climbing and snaking that way up the mountain). There was some skepticism in the group, as my dad hadn't been on that trail in at least 30 years, but we pressed forward and followed the enthusiasm of our mountain goat children.

Eric gets all the credit for prepping Jane for success on this one. He built it up by telling her in a grand, heroic sounding voice, "we're going on an adventure!" And it helped that there was a "big" waterfall at the top of the hike.
I supported good attitudes via those smiley face fruit snacks. Every 15 minutes (or sooner if I could sense there was a meltdown eminent) I would shout "happy check!" Every child with a smile on their face got a fruit snack.
And the end result was a blast! Jane did phenomenally and we all had a really good time. She still talks about it: "remember when we went to the biggest waterfall?" followed by "I peed my pants" stated very matter of factly. Turns out the sound of all that water was too much for her. So we took a quick bath in the waterfall and talked her into having wet clothes so she wouldn't get hot on the hike back down ;-)






In other exciting news, I wore my Vibram 5 toe shoes up the hike and they were A-MAZ-ING. I always get shin splints on the downward portion of hikes, but I was just fine. The shoes helped feel so much more the rocky path beneath my feet and I was the most sure-footed of the group. I've never been able to look up so much and enjoy the scenery around me on a hike. And my feet and body felt great when we got to the bottom.